Falling
by Storybelle
Summary: The worst forfeit for Truth or Dare. Asking out a guy you hate to save youself from social death. But what happens when you fall for the guy? SasuNaru.
1. Welcome to Loserville

**Song: **Ticket outta Loserville by Son of Dork

**Warnings: **BoyxBoy so please put all children/wusses/yaoi haters to bed immediately.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing…for the moment… cackles

This is my first SasuNaru fic so don't kill me.

It started off so simply.

"Truth or Dare, Naruto?" Shikamaru didn't even look at me as he asked the question – the cloud shaped like a tree was a lot more interesting to him.

I looked upwards too as I wondered what was worse. Shikamaru could come up with some really nasty dares if he was pissed. He's a frigging _genius _after all. But it's a bad idea to reveal any truths because of the brunette boy on the other side of me who smells vaguely like dog.

"Truth."

"Is it true you have a crush on Sakura?" Instantly, both pairs of eyes turned to look at me.

"Well?"

"Um…"

"It has to be. He looks like a lovesick puppy around her!" I kicked at my best mate, Kiba, but he dodged out of the way, grinning.

I flung myself back onto the grass. _Stupid assholes, thinking they know everything… (_Shikamaru probably does know everything but that's not the point.)

"You know the forfeit if you don't answer, Naruto," drawls Shikamaru.

"C'mon, it's not that painful to tell us is it?" cackled Kiba.

Is stabbing yourself with a knife painful? Kiba has the biggest mouth in Konoha high school. It would be instant social death – and I'm already in Loserville, population me, myself and I, along with Kiba, Shikamaru and that scary redheaded kid in my English class.

Sakura Haruno is like, _it_ at our school and by far the most beautiful girl around. She's also sweet, funny, smart, adored by guys everywhere – you get the picture.

I liked her, everyone who met her did. And when I'd seen her in the courtyard for the first time at the beginning of high school, I'd fallen for her hook, line and sinker.

This also meant I was a doomed man. Either I tell Kiba and Shikamaru and they in turn tell _everyone_ or I don't tell and they tell everyone I do anyway…or I do the forfeit. I do _not _want to do the forfeit.

"Well? What's it gonna be, Naruto?" Shikamaru is looking at me now with this amused glint in his eye.

"Not talking? I guess you'll have to do the forfeit then." Kiba muses, feigning pity. "It would just be easier to say something, y'know. Just nod your head."

I don't move. I'd rather _die._

"Fine. Naruto Uzumaki, you have broken the sacred rules of the game of Truth or Dare. As agreed by all members present you have to do 'The Forfeit.' decided by the Lords of Punishment for keeping secrets."

I sat straight up, shedding grass clipping and leaves in my haste.

"Guys, you wouldn't. Come on! You're meant to be my best friends! You wouldn't actually make me do this!!"

"You have to, Naruto. We agreed." Shikamaru sounds just like a cold blooded observer – oh, so he is. I'll get you for this, Shika, you are so dead…

"You don't mind about _that_ do you? We know you don't…" smirked Kiba.

"Neither do you! But it's _him_! We're talking Loserville for the rest of my life here!"

"Then answer our question."

"Aah…uh, I _can't_," I moan.

"Then you don't have a choice. Go."

"NOW?! HERE?!"

"Yep."

"We didn't agree on that!"

"No. But we wanna watch."

I get up slowly, brushing grass off my clothes. "Bastards," I hiss. "Cold blooded bastards…"

I walk away, searching for someone in the busy, chattering crowds. We made the deal, half an hour ago, at the beginning of lunch when Kiba got bored and decided we should play Truth or Dare.

The rules: all questions or dares must be fulfilled.

The Forfeit: Kiba had made this up, knowing out of all of us I was most likely to lose. He probably planned it with Shikamaru.

Ask out Uchiha Sasuke.

Rich, arrogant, silent, sends all the girls wild. Bloody genius too. That bastard has been my rival since middle school. Even worse, he has the attentions of the gorgeous Sakura. Not dating her – he seems to be immune to every single girl throwing themselves at his feet.

Some guys have it all.

I hoped, oh God if you love me please, _please_, that he wouldn't be there – dodging his stalkers or sucking up to teachers. But its proof someone up there has it in for me 'cos I caught sight of his black hair a second later.

He's good looking, I suppose. I don't specifically swing either way – not gay, not straight, but I don't make a habit of telling people that. Hello, _Loserville._ I don't need to give them anymore reason to take the piss out of me.

He's with a couple of friends – oh God no. I don't need an audience to my humiliating rejection. It's either rejection by him or Sakura.

And a 'no' from the bastard I can handle.

On his right is Neji Hyuuga. After Sasuke in the Fangirl department – if they're not Uchiha fangirls they're Hyuuga fangirls. Or even both.

And then there's Shino Aburame on his left. He hangs out with them sometimes. He's kinda creepy – I don't think I've ever seen his eyes. He always wears dark glasses.

I swallow _hard_ and walk up to them slowly, hoping they walk away or don't notice me or even tell me to get lost.

"Hey, Uzumaki." It's Neji, watching me with those strange pale eyes. We get on alright for some bizarre reason. He hangs around with Sasuke even though he's older.

Normally I'd go "Hey, Hyuuga" and keep on walking. This time my feet are walking me closer even though I want so badly to run.

Shino is staring in the opposite direction but Sasuke is glaring at me. "Do you want something, Dobe?"

Like I said we have a 'Love/Hate' relationship.

"Hey. Dobe. Speak."

Emphasis on the hate. What is the deal with this guy? Sure, in the eyes of every teenage girl on Earth he's perfect and he's everything I'm not. That's still not a reason why we don't get on.

"Could I talk to you Teme?"

"Hn?" His dark eyes widen with surprise. I think he expected me to start yelling and then we'd end up fighting. In middle school we ended up in counselling to try and 'work through our differences.' The counsellor quit several months later.

He smirked suddenly. "What about?"

"Something," I mutter, wishing I could just die.

"Well then, you can say it here."

I stare into his pale face, right into his eyes.

"Fine. I just wanted to know if…"

The words 'you were born an asshole or you're just really good at it' were on the tip of my tongue but then I swallowed my pride and just said it.

"If you would…go…out with…me."

I winced. I could hear Kiba and Shikamaru laughing behind me. True to their word, they had been watching.

I was expecting Sasuke to laugh or hit me or _something_.

"Ok."

"Huh?" I opened my eyes to see him looking straight at me. Shino and Neji seemed to be in a similar state of shock to me, staring at Sasuke as if he'd gone mad.

"I said yes idiot. You can't be that stupid."

Kiba and Shikamaru had stopped laughing when Sasuke had said yes. Next minute they came up behind me and dragged me away, into the main building. My brain had stopped all sane thoughts, screaming the same one over and over again on a loop.

Because I lost a game of Truth or Dare I'm dating Uchiha Sasuke.


	2. Sasuke avoidance techniques

**Inspired by: **Ticket outta Loserville by Son of Dork

**Warnings: **BoyxBoy so please grow up.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing…I have had therapy to get over this.

"I can't believe that just happened."

"Kiba." My head was on the table. "Shut up."

"I didn't expect him to say yes! I mean, Sasuke Uchiha! Who knew he swung that way…"

"Kiba…"

"You're screwed you know."

"Kiba. If you don't shut up I swear to God, I'm gonna neuter you."

"Whatever. Don't get pissy."

That threat wouldn't last two minutes. If I knew Kiba like I think I do he should start talking in 3…2…1…

"So are you the guy or the girl?"

"KIBA!!"

"Mr Uzumaki, do you have something to say?" I slid down in my seat, trying to hide myself from our science teacher.

"No sir."

"Well, you should have. Answer question 4 for us please."

"What are you gonna do if it gets out?" Kiba muttered as the teacher had his back turned to a girl with gum stuck in her hair.

"It won't. Right?!"

"No! I swear!"

"Yeah, like you wouldn't have told Sakura and the rest of our year if I'd answered."

"You should have y'know. You'd be in less shit than you are now."

"I'm not talking to you," I said as I picked up a pen and stared at the page as if it could write the answers for me.

_Why_ had Sasuke said yes? No normal teenage heterosexual guy would have. Maybe he wasn't? Straight, I mean, although I have had doubts about whether he's a girl or not…

Maybe he'll ditch me tomorrow and as long as it isn't public I couldn't care less.

Sakura! Oh God, she'll kill me cos I got to her precious Sasuke before she did! Either way _hello Loserville_…

Shikamaru wasn't around by the way because of the whole genius thing. This meant I also didn't have to see Sasuke much.

"So what are you gonna do?" Kiba asked in a low voice while somehow keeping track of the teacher (maybe he could smell him?)

"Get a new passport, win the lottery, get plastic surgery, change my name and move to Mexico after I fake my death."

"Ha. I mean about the Sasuke thing. What's your plan?"

"I just told you it."

"Seriously."

"Nothing." Actually, I really didn't know. I was – how did Kiba put it? Oh yeah – screwed.

"You always have a plan."

True. I am the escaping/getting myself out of trouble expert. It's a shame they don't have Olympics for that sort of thing.

"Kiba. They don't have plans for this."

"Not even one?"

"No."

"But what if he kisses you? Not that you care about that stuff but…"

"I hate his guts?"

"Yep. I know, punch him."

"No. Tried that. Got my ass kicked."

"And sent to counselling."

"Shut up."

Ooh! Plan! It's incredibly simple and devious…

Stay away from Sasuke.

If I'd thought of that if 8th grade I wouldn't have had to had women in pink ribbons telling me to breathe in and out and think of a calm blue ocean.

"Uzumaki."

No, it's not Sasuke. It's Neji, looking kinda flustered.

"Sasuke's in a student council meeting," he said as he walked up beside me. "We have time to talk – and you're not escaping."

Damn. A hard left and down the corridor and I could have been out of the boys' bathroom window before you say 'Huh? I wasn't thinking about Sasuke.'

At least he was suffering. He'd be trapped in there for hours.

"Do you know what you are doing?" I glance up at Neji but he's dragging me by the collar into an empty classroom. He bodily throws me into a chair and then glares at me. It's so tempting to just go 'what?' but I'd be a dead man walking.

"Do you? And why?"

Aah…the Sasuke thing.

"Er…fill me in?"

"If this gets out…"

"I know. I'm a dead man walking…"

"What? Look…You're not going to tell me anything, are you , Uzumaki?"

I pretended to think about it. "Nope!"

"Be careful, ok? Sasuke has the power to destroy you. Before now, it's been like friendly competition but I know what he could do."

"Friendly? Sure. What could he do?"

Neji fell silent. "For starters, he could turn the whole school against you."

I almost said something but then thought about it. _Damn. That's actually pretty good. _

"At least you're ignored now Naruto. Protected."

"Wait." I was up off my seat in an instant. "If he can do all that crap, why doesn't he? He hates me!! If he could, why not?"

"Because he doesn't…I mean, well…" Neji took a step back from me. "It's not my business to tell. Just watch your back, okay Naruto?"

He was halfway out the door before he remembered something and stopped. "By the way, Sasuke gets out of that meeting in two minutes."

The door was swinging shut before it penetrated my brain.

"What?!"

I grabbed my bag and headed out of the door. I knew I was screwed. If Sasuke wanted to find me, he would.

_And Neji was probably a distraction! _I curse as I ran down the hallway that led to the exit.

I was almost there when it was blocked.

"Going somewhere dobe?"

I skidded to a halt in front of him and scowled. "Yes. Home. Away from you."

He smirked. "So you don't want to be around me huh? Strange, you asked me…why would you do that if you wanted to stay as far away from me as possible?"

Damn. I was screwed. Sasuke was as fast as lightening and just as strong. I knew. I've had stitches to prove it.

"It's a long story. Can we just drop it?" I muttered. I would never confess the Truth or Dare thing to him.

"No. You see Uzumaki; this can be very bad or very good. It's complicated. I can use you as an excuse to get rid of my fangirls and you get a ticket out of Loserville."

My mouth was dry. "So we'd actually be dating?"

"Yep."

"And the entire school would know about it?"

"Precisely. Problems about that?"

"Yeah, kinda. I'm actually…y'know."

He got it. "Yeah, so? So am I."

I didn't expect that. That would explain why he was so cold blooded to every single fangirl.

"But I'm kinda Bi. And I sorta like Sakura but she likes you…"

"Sakura?" His expression was blank. "Oh, that pink haired girl with the shrill voice."

That bastard! He didn't even care!

"So you think if I date you, she never will?"

"I said she likes you. A lot."

"Dating me gets you out of Loserville. And believe me; I don't think the bisexual things will be a problem."

I didn't have any choice. I'd gotten myself stuck through no fault of my own and it actually might have some benefits.

"So. Deal or no deal?"

What was it gonna be? Dating my rival or never getting the girl of my dreams?


	3. Why you shouldn't make deals with devils

**Song: **God is a girl.

**Warnings: **BoyxBoy so bite me.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing…My imaginary friend says so.

"I…" I opened and shut my mouth. Sasuke merely looked bored, as though he made deals with rivals who he was supposed to be dating everyday.

This is so complicated.

"Deal, I guess." I reached out to shake on it.

"Deal." His hand was cool and smooth, unlike mine which was definitely sticky.

I thought about walking away now that it was all over – I was free! Run, you fool, _run!_ – But then I turned as I thought of something.

"Um. Sasuke?"

"Yeah, dobe?"

"What about…um…y'know. If we have to…kiss?"

He smirked. No one smirks like Sasuke. Even Satan doesn't smirk like Sasuke.

"What about it?"

"Well…do we?"

"We're meant to be dating, idiot. What do you expect?"

"Yeah but…"

"It's not a problem to either of us."

"No, but it's you! And it's me! We _hate _each other!"

He looked taken aback for a moment. "Oh? Is that so?"

"But I don't…ooph!"

Sasuke now pretty much had me trapped. My back was pressed into the lockers and my wrists were held tightly above my head.

He even had a foot between my legs so that if I moved he could simply trip me over.

"Bastard? What are you doing?" I grunted.

"Practicing."

"What? No!"

The kick in the crotch was…well, you know how I said he was good looking? He's not.

He's gorgeous. And right now that pale skin grazed mine, dark obsidian eyes stared at me and he was moving closer to me so I could feel him breathing on my cheek, his mouth inches from mine.

_Oh, so NOT thinking about Sasuke's lips! _The harder I struggled, the tighter he held.

"Come on dobe," he practically purred. "You _are _attracted to me. And don't you want to get the first kiss over and done with?"

"Well, technically, this isn't our first kiss…"

"We swore never to bring that up again," he scowled.

"Yeah, but it's our second kiss. But first serious kiss. Stop staring at me."

"Shan't," he said very clearly before he lowered his mouth to my neck.

And oh my God, I didn't want to escape then as Sasuke bit and licked and nipped his way up my throat.

_We should have stopped fighting years ago _I thought blearily _and done this instead._

Sasuke had moved to my ears now. He'd let go off my arms letting them fall to my sides as he continued his assault. One hand held my head at the angle he liked while the other one was wrapped around my waist in case I found my kneecaps again and started to run.

But I couldn't. I was totally paralysed.

He kissed his way across my face, moving towards my mouth.

_He's going slowly on purpose!_

And because of no other reason than my raging hormones I grabbed hold of him and pressed my mouth against his.

He was as shocked as I was but he got into it pretty fast. I'd moved my hands up and tugged at his dark hair, pulling him closer. I was seriously possessed by passion and lust and insanity.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke had pulled away from me in an instant. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair where I had messed it up and then dragged me, still panting, away from the lockers.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura suddenly appeared out of no one, almost happening into my line of vision like a strawberry-haired angel, and grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm. Neither of us were happy about this.

I scowled as Sakura tried to convince Sasuke to walk her home. She wilted slightly in disappointment when he said 'No. Let go.' She paid no attention to me whatsoever.

This is how screwed up my life is. The girl I like likes the boy I do _not _like but recently just made out with against a locker. Confused yet?

Sasuke brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes (a gesture that sent Sakura crazy). It also made my heart beat strangely in my chest but I ignored it. I'd kissed the guy. That was it.

"Hey. You coming?"

Sakura had stars in her eyes. "Oh Sasuke-kun! Seriously! Where? I mean I knew you liked me better than that pig, Ino!"

She was cut off by Sasuke shrugging her off his arm. "Not you. Him."

Sakura slowly turned to me with a look of pure poison.

"Me?"

"Duh. Sakura, you know Naruto, right?" Sakura nodded. "Yeah. Hi." I ignored the fact that she'd acknowledged me purely because Sasuke had.

"Come on, Naruto. See you, Sakura."

"Bye Sasuke-kun! See you tomorrow! Bye Naruto-kun!" She added as an afterthought. Even so it was enough for me.

I ran to catch Sasuke up, leaving Sakura looking utterly stunned by the row of lockers (if she knew Sasuke had tongue assaulted me against the locker she was standing next to I wouldn't _have_ a tongue anymore.) (_Maybe _I tongue assaulted him back.) (That's not my point.)

"So...are you serious or are you ditching me when we get outside?"

"Do you actually care?" But before I could answer he continued.

"Sure. Come over to my house. But don't touch anything."

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"You don't care what Sakura will do to me when she finds out about us, do you?"

He smiled in a way that made me wonder what I'd gotten myself into.

"As long as your mouth is okay."

I had to wonder whether this was more than a game of pretend to him as, like the idiot I am, I agreed to go with him.

Hn. How did I get to a make out session by chapter three? Actually how did the plot end up like this at all?! It was meant to be a songfic!

IT'S JUST ANOTHER HIGH SCHOOL FIC!!! (Well, I always did want to write one of those - I'm pathetic!) But I'm pleased that people have put it on story alert – thank you to you guys!

Well, coursework calls. xxxx Reviews are love, advice, opinions...whatever you have to tell me.


	4. What's wrong with this picture?

I listened to:Yasashii Gogo – Minawo and Holiday – Green Day.

**Warning: **Yadda, yadda.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing...blah, blah, blah...

_F A L L I N G _

I thought about fairy tales.

You know. The old lady tricks the kind but dim witted children into her gingerbread house/lair/oven and then eats them because she's actually a witch.

Take a guess who's the witch.

I walked half a step behind Sasuke. Just in case I had to run.

"Hey, dobe."

I involuntarily jumped back. "What?!"

"We're here."

I knew Sasuke was a stuck up rich kid.

But this definitely means some people are just lucky bastards.

"Your kitchen is bigger than my entire flat," I told him as he searched for ramen which I had started whining for about five seconds after we got in the door.

He just slammed a cupboard shut in reply.

I jumped up on a stool while he looked through cupboards.

"Don't you know if you have any ramen?" Ooh, this chair swivels.

I wouldn't have put Sasuke down as a swivly chair guy.

"No. I don't eat ramen." I nearly fell off my stool.

"Freak," I muttered. I think I saw Sasuke smirk. Then he bent down and grabbed something from the back of the cupboard.

"Here," he muttered, shoving something into my hand. Instant ramen.

"Yay! Ramen!" He watched me dance around with a strange look on his face. It was so out of place on Sasuke's face I almost didn't recognise it.

"Come on," he leant over and picked up his bag. "Come up to my room first." I pouted.

"But ramen!" Sasuke's evil glare no.4. I've been on the end of that look before. I meekly put down the ramen – nearly sobbing – and followed him.

He must have maps hidden somewhere, like a theme park. I almost expected signs 'You are here.' It's huge.

Maybe he's a robot?

_Robots don't have lips that soft..._

I thought I was done thinking about Sasuke's lips? And Sasuke's hands and arms and wrists and legs...

I think I hate myself.

"Crap! Do you like blue or something?" That's what Sasuke's room is. Blue.

"It's white too."

"Yay. White. How...exciting."

He scowled. "This is coming from the guy who wears...orange."

"Yeah! Like you could pull off orange!"

"I could pull something that's orange off..." I heard him even though he said it quietly. I quickly looked out the window to hide the fact that I was blushing.

(My underwear is orange but I think mentioning that would only encourage him...)(When did Sasuke get so horny anyway?)(Oh, yeah. That might have been my fault.)

"So. What do you want to do dobe?"

"Eat ramen."

"Is that all you think about?"

But I'd spotted a photograph face down on the bed side table. Sasuke saw what I was doing and tried to stop me but it was too late.

"Hey, is this your brother or something?" The picture was of two young boys – one of them obviously Sasuke several years ago – and an older boy.

_Wooo..._Is _that_ what Sasuke's gonna look like when he's older?

Cos if this guys any indication...woah.

But then I look at young Sasuke properly.

"Dobe? You ok?" Sasuke's watching me closely. I nod and gently put the photograph back where it was. With my back turned to him I quickly rubbed my eyes and then spin around.

"So hey, what about ramen?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever dobe."

But I was distracted again. I ran across the room and bounced on his bed. I swear mine creaks now because I've done that so many times.

I lay on the bed and pulled up the covers so I could look under it.

Nothing. Not even a sock.

"What were you expecting, a mouldy sandwich?" Sasuke looks bemused.

I sit up, disappointed. "Well..." He rolls his eyes again.

"Why, what have you got under yours?"

"A pair of old trainers and some ramen from about a month ago."

He wrinkles his nose.

I jump up and down again. "Your room is so clean! It's inhuman."

He looks embarrassed. "We have a cleaner..."

I snort. "So, would you have socks under your bed if you didn't?"

He stalks across the room to the bed and sits down on the edge of it before lying down next to me. It's so huge it doesn't matter but Sasuke's still close enough to make me uncomfortable.

"So."

"So," I echo. It's kind of awkward now. After all these years I never knew he had a brother or...anything about him actually. How can you be around someone everyday and not know anything about him?

"Do you get on with your brother?" I ask the first thing that came into my head and then regretted it. Sasuke's face closes up.

"Never mind. Can we eat now?"

And then Sasuke leans over and kisses me quickly on the lips.

"I swear," he says softly. "That's all you think about."

And then he slides off the bed, leaving me utterly confused.

**Falling**

I don't dare ask anything else about his family. We don't talk actually. I almost wished we had our old relationship back – this one is too strange.

"You have to go," Sasuke says, glancing at a clock on the wall. I straighten up from the dishwasher. Why does he want me to go now?

"Yeah, I suppose." I reluctantly pick up my bag.

Sasuke follows me to the door, hands in pockets.

"I'll...see you tomorrow then."

"Sure," he mutters.

I pull open the door, half wanting to bolt and half wanting to stay.

"Don't worry about tomorrow."

"Huh?" Caught off guard, I turn back to him. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. You don't need to think about it."

"Aside from the fact that I haven't done my chemistry homework?"

"Yeah. Just be in the canteen tomorrow lunch."

"Ok." I take one step outside the door but Sasuke pulls me back in.

"Hey! What?"

Sasuke sheepishly puts his hands back in his pockets. "It doesn't...really matter."

What can I say? I was curious. Sasuke was staring at the ground, the door handle, anywhere except my face.

"Seriously, what?" Sasuke looks up at me and then leans towards me.

We must have looked strange, me half in, half out of the house, clutching my bright orange backpack and looking like I was expecting Sasuke to bite me or something (oh, wait...he's already done that.) Sasuke paused a second before his lips touched mine so for a second I thought he was going to pull away.

But he kisses me again softly, quickly, almost sweetly. So much so it surprises me.

"See you, Naruto," he says and then he shuts the door, leaving me standing there like a complete muppet.

Ok. Now I have nothing better to do than go home and avoid my homework. I furiously kick a pebble. What was I expecting? Sasuke to throw me on his (very boring) blue bed and take me right there and then?

_No. Idiot! _You know what? Just forget I ever mentioned Sasuke ravishing me.

Wait. I never mentioned him ravishing me, did I?

I step out onto the pavement to find a small kid in a cap staring at me.

"Hey mister, why did you and that other boy kiss?" He asked, thumb in mouth.

How do you explain homosexuals to a five year old?

You don't. So I ran.

And prayed to God I never meet his mother.


	5. Sudden kisses

_I listened to: Asterisk by Orange Range 'Bleach' first op._

**Warning**: You should know it by now.

**Disclaimer**: This too.

**Why am I writing this? Several reasons.**

**I have 2 English essays, a religious studies essay, French revision, a history question and Food tech coursework that needs to be done in the next few days.**

**I'm pretending to ignore it all by writing and watching 'Green Wing.'**

**And I said to Riiku-senpai I would have the new chappie up by the weekend. (Hey, I did send that reply, didn't I? Or am I being a total retard? This chappie can be for you, if you want it!)  
Also, I wanted to know what other pairings you guys wanted in this fic. There's SasuNaru so by now I couldn't care less. I don't really have any other strong pairing likes in this show so tell me and the ones that are most popular go in. 'Kay?**

_**Falling**_

"Naruto, aren't you getting in a little too deep?"

"Nice to see you too, Shika. How do you know?" I muttered dropping my lunch on the table.

"Kiba. You're now officially dating him."

"Sssh!" I hissed, checking the surrounding tables. However everyone has better things to do than eavesdrop on us – though they'd be pissing themselves if they were.

"He hasn't dumped you yet?" asked Kiba, chewing on some kind of unrecognisable dead animal.

"No. Worse."

"How worse?"

I looked around me again – left, clear. Right, clear – and gestured for them to lean in.

"What?!" They both stared at me with their mouths open. Yep, that's right. I told them.

"What if you have to kiss the guy?"

"I said that!" Shika studies me for a moment and then says matter of factly "You already did, didn't you?"

Kiba choked. "Naruto, no way! No way! Tell me you..."

"Did," I confirmed.

Kiba whacked his head down on the table. "No," he groaned. "you are so screwed!"

"If Sasuke gets his way, possibly. Actually, I'll bet on it."

"Shika!" I hissed.

"Well?" Kiba asked, leaning over. "Not that I'm into that stuff but...I don't want any icky details!"

"Wasn't gonna..." I picked up my coke bottle and then put it down again. "I was tongue assaulted!"

"Tongue assaulted?"

"Yes! In front of a locker!"

"And you just let him tongue assault you without punching him?" Kiba asked, open mouthed.

"Well..." I muttered sheepishly into my lunch.

"You tongue assaulted him back, didn't you?" Shika said.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what? I was just guessing. Besides it was written all over your face. 'I got tongue assaulted and I don't care. Actually, I'll invite everyone to watch cos I kissed Sasuke Uchiha'."

"Shut. Up!!!"

Kiba looked pale. "What is wrong with you? I used to have a friend called Naruto Uzumaki. Y'know? The guy who hates Uchiha's guts? Why did you kiss him?"

"You kissed him again, right?"

"Stop that!!"

"Naruto..." Kiba moaned. "What. Happened?"

"I went round to his house..."

Kiba thumped his head on the table.

"Cos Sakura nearly caught us..."

Thump. Thump.

"And we were in his room..."

_Thump._

"And sitting on his bed..."

THUMP.

"And he kissed me. Once. And again on the doorstep."

"On the doorstep? Wouldn't somebody have seen you?" Shikamaru grabbed hold of Kiba's head to stop him slamming it down again and losing more brain cells than he already has.

"Yeah. Little kid. Thumb sucker. Red cap."

"Naruto. Pray you never see him again," Shikamaru told me seriously.

"Yeah. He could out you or something." We both looked at Kiba.

"Y'know. Like in newspapers. Out you."

"Well, Sasuke said to be in the cafeteria today and to not worry about it. Shika, can you do my chem. Homework for me?" I pulled the doe eyes on him but he wasn't even looking at me. He took the sheet while looking at the other side of the cafeteria.

"That can't be good. Why did you kiss him anyway? It's not part of the deal, is it?"

I shook my head. "I wonder what he wanted me to be here for?"

"You're going to find out. Take a look," Shika pointed at a table several feet away in a corner. Sasuke was glaring at me with not so much as 'bedroom' eyes but 'get over here now' eyes.

Damn.

I scrambled up. "I'm gonna see what he wants."

"Maybe another make out session against the lockers?" Kiba bit into a piece of chicken.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru said.

I turned on the spot. "Yeah?"

"Here's your homework. Oh and don't die."

Great.

I walked across to his table where the three musketeers of doom, gloom and death sat staring at me.

"What do you want, Sasuke?"

"You're not going to like it," he said. He stood up and adopted the same pose I was in now, hands in pockets, 'get out of my face' look.

"No? Tell me then." He took a step closer so he was standing right in front of me.

"I want you to..." he leant and whispered it in my ear.

"_Kiss me."_

"Here? No way!"

He smirked. "How else is everyone gonna know without thinking it's a rumour. _Kiss me. _Now."

I shivered. Kissing Sasuke in front of the whole cafeteria. Sakura and her pretty friends are over there. People I know. People I see everyday. People who have the ability to torture me to an early grave.

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Trust me. _Kiss me."_

I swallowed. Sasuke had grabbed hold of my shoulder, indicating I _was_ going to do this. If I didn't kiss him, _he'd kiss me._

The cafeteria was growing quieter. They sensed the tension between us, even if they thought it was the wrong kind. The kind where we hated each other. Y'know. What had been my world – safe. Something I knew.

That all went out the window when Sasuke's lips touched mine for the fourth time.

It was silent. Everyone in that room – except Sasuke - was in total shock. I shut my eyes tight and responded. It was the only way to get through it.

It seemed like hours but must have only been a minute when Sasuke pulled away. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was his dark ones. And then Neji and Shino. Kiba and Shika.

Sakura.

Sasuke sat down, looking almost smug and yet totally unbothered.

Like it was _nothing. _Shino's mouth was open. Neji's face had drained of all colour. I think Kiba had fainted.

But after that I don't know because the paralysis from Sasuke's kiss had gone and my brain was telling my feet to run for it.

**SasuNaruSasuNaruSasuNaruSasuNaruSasuNaruSasuNaru**

Running was a bad idea.

Seriously. I could have strolled out of there going 'Nya, I just pulled Sasuke Uchiha!'

Well, I could have if I was a teenage girl. But I'm not. I'm a boy who just got 'outed' in front of the whole cafeteria by a complete and utter _asshole. _

There was a clang of metal and a pale hand reached up to grab the next rung. Neji swung himself up and over the ledge.

"Thought I might find you up here."

I'm on the roof of the school. Not the place most people look.

Neji sits down beside me. "I honestly didn't know Sasuke was going to do that. Are you sure you handle this?"

"He's already kissed me four times, once in front of most of the student body. I don't think I can back out."

"Four times? What?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "He started it."

"Oh Naruto!"

"What? It's not my fault!!"

"Why did you ask Sasuke out in the first place?"

Busted. I was so, so busted. Stupid Neji. May his fangirls tear him into a million pieces.

"Smuf or mare..."

"What?"

"I said 'Mmmble mmm _mmmm!"_

"What?!"

"I said Truth or Dare!!"

Neji stared at me in possibly horror or morbid fascination.

"You...did what?"

"I didn't mean to, ok? It was either that or Kiba would tell everyone about how I like Sakura..."

"You what?"

_Oh shit. I should not have said that._

"Does it matter?"

Neji got up and began to pace. "You like Sakura but she likes Sasuke. Sasuke however couldn't care less that the object of your affections has a huge obsessive fangirl crush on _him_ and even worse when asked out by you said yes." He spun around.

"The rest I don't know. Fill me in."

I sighed. "Fine." I mimicked him just to piss him off.

"Sasuke, as he is such a total bastard, agreed to make a deal with me just so he could get said fangirls off his back and I wouldn't be such a loser anymore."

Neji scowled. "Ok...That makes it so much clearer."

I sat down again. "I know. It makes my head spin too. Did you know the bastard likes boys? I didn't. I mean I never would have guessed! Ironic though..."

"He didn't tell me but I guessed." Seeing my curious gaze he shook his head and coughed something that sounded like 'ahem, Playgirl!' but I could have been mistaken.

_Playgirl? Seriously?_

"So...What happened after I left the cafeteria?"

"Chaos," Neji sighed. "Obviously. A revolution?"

"Whuh?" Which is basically 'what?' with 'huh?'

"Obsessive Sasuke fangirls transformed into SasukeNaruto fangirls by that little display in the cafeteria. Was that planned by the way?"

I groaned. "No. That bastard came up with it. He just told me to be in the cafeteria today."

"Aah. Are you going to go to afternoon classes or are you just going to...?"

"Lie here in my own misery until everyone else has left? Yeah. And don't tell Sasuke I'm up here!"

Neji smiled as he descended. "No. Of course I won't."

Right. Who wants to take a bet that Sasuke will be up here just as the school bell rings?

**Ooh! You'll just have to wait for that, won't you? Nya! I'm so bad.**

**I normally put on my profile when I'm going to update, kk? **

**I don't know what Playgirl is. Is there a playgirl? I just heard it in Scrubs the other day.**

**Thought it fitted (Sasuke, you perv!).**

**Oh yes. Homework. Piles of it.**

**I want a peanut butter Kitkat. Kitkats for everyone who reviews!!**


	6. Eyes full of truth

**I'm listening to**: Sidewalks – Story of the year.

**Disclaimer**: I own two Naruto DVDs, a PS2 game, 1 – 6 of the manga, a folder of SasuNaru pictures and every opening/ending/OST the anime has. But Masashi Kishimoto owns everything else...

**Warning**: If you're read this far IT IS BOYXBOY!!!

Hiya! It took me longer than usual to write this chapter. Also it's short and lousy.

Coursework is melting my brain and until I get off red sheet I have NO free time. Sorry! It's half term next Friday though so I will update! You can throw tomatoes at me if I don't.

Skittles for reviewers and with a limited offer of a free Sakura voodoo doll!

I must have fallen asleep. When I opened my eyes again the sun had moved and the bell was chiming.

Yeah, I could have moved: possibly gone with that plan to run away to Mexico to stop Sasuke molesting me again but I wanted to give him a piece of my mind.

Someone poked me in the ribs.

"Piss off!" I growled, still half asleep. They poked me again. _Hard._

I sat upright suddenly to scream at whoever had been invading my personal space.

"Oh. It's you."

"That's not very nice!"

"Look, you crazy bitch, you're poking me on a day when I feel like biting off your fingers. I've been kissed and publicly humiliated."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Ino..."

"Neh, maybe not." She leaned back and flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

Ino, Ino, Ino. Where do I start with Ino Yamanaka?

She was a pretty. She still is: physically I mean but she's not as pretty-headed anymore. In middle school she was a bitchy, catty, shallow Sasuke fangirl. God, she was annoying! She knew Sakura before I did, before Sakura joined Konoha high because they were childhood friends. But then Sasuke got in the way: they stopped being friends.

They were rivals instead.

By the time we became 15 Ino was not so pretty minded anymore. She got new friends, even though she is still Sakura's rival. Old habits die hard.

You think they'd let it go, seeing as Ino doesn't like Sasuke anymore and Sasuke's kinda taken.

Whose fault is that? Oh yeah, mine.

But like with Neji I have no idea how we became friends. We don't talk much in school though.

"Do I want to know how you came to be kissing my former crush in front of the whole school?" Ino's voice reverberated through my skull. We were lying head to head. Her hair was drifting in my face.

"It's getting longer," I said, trying to change the subject. She fingered a pale strand. It used to be really long, because she and Sakura had heard Sasuke liked girls with long hair.

"Yeah, I was thinking of getting it cut again but...hey! Don't change the subject!"

I grinned in a 'The horns are there to hold up my halo' kinda way.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

She smirked. "Ok, short stuff: talk."

And like the muppet I am I did.

I 'forgot' some parts. The way Sakura was involved. Truth or dare. Tongue assaulting. The short version, basically.

When I was done she clicked her incisors together, making a strange grating noise. It meant that she was thinking.

"Okay...what's the truth?"

"WHAT?!"

"I don't think that's it. Yes, you like guys: I worked that out ages ago..."

"Whuh?! _How?!" _I wailed.

"Walked in on you kissing Kaito last year at my party."

"You _saw _that?!"

"Mmhm! Along with other stuff...And under the bed is the first place anyone will look for stuff you don't want them to find. Second: You never explained how you managed to be dating Sasuke in the first place. Or what this deal involves. And why you're doing it. Because you have always made it your first priority to kick Sasuke's ass. Even though you suck at it."

"Ok, I can see the green eyed fangirl growing, y'know." She continued, ignoring me.

"But I think I get why you two can't stand each other. The other stuff doesn't matter compared to this."

I was interested. What could Ino see that I couldn't?

"What?"

Ino bit one of her nails. "You won't like me if I say it."

"No, I wanna know! Why do you understand it and I don't?"

"But you'll get mad at me!"

"Ino! I won't! Swear." She regards me for a second before holding out her right hand. "Pinkie promise!"

"No!" I firmly sat on my hands. "That's seriously childish."

"Whatever," she shrugged before pulling back her hand and then spitting into her palm.

"Ewww! What are you doing?"

"This is the only other way I can think of that doesn't involve blood or swearing on my mom. Do it."

Utterly repulsed I did the same and shook hands with her.

"Ewww! If I get a cold, it's all your fault," I told her grouchily.

"You're meant to be a guy. Put some dirt on it."

"What?"

"No idea. Something my dad says. You swear you won't get mad at me? Or deny it?"

"What? I won't deny anything."

"Believe me, you will." I shivered. There was something serious in her voice.

She wiggled closer to me, so that she was staring directly into my eyes. "Hold on a sec. Wanna check something."

"Like what?"

"Sasuke," she said very clearly. And then she sat back, smiling smugly.

"What? What?"

"Nothing. Something my mom said about pupils and stuff. Never mind. Like when your pupils dilate in bright light. Doesn't matter."

Pupils? That sounded familiar. Something about people you like...

Ino sat down, legs crossed, like she was teaching the 9 times table to a little kid.

"Ok. You and Sasuke have always hated each other, right? Ever since Seventh grade. Like instant dislike."

"Ok." I could see where she was coming from. She was talking about the world that until yesterday had been mine.

"Well, strong emotions get mixed. You mistake something for another. And you and Sasuke have always had this weird tension around you two. Do you see what I'm saying?"

I shook my head.

She tipped back her head in exasperation. "You love him."

"What?! Are you totally insane?! Or retarded? Have you not paid attention to the last few years? And I thought you were smart!!"

"You said you wouldn't deny it."

"Providing it wasn't COMPLETE AND UTTER MADNESS!"

"No, it makes sense."

"I just told you why it didn't!"

"No. You yelled. And said it was as likely as an ice cream on the sun. More or less."

"It is!"

"Nope. It's as likely as you wearing pants with frogs on."

"Well, ha! Because I'm not..." Oh shit. I am.

Ino flicked my forehead with a finger. "Oh yes, short stuff. Time to face reality. Good luck with that!"

"But...I can't be in love with Sasuke! I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because...I just can't!"

She sighed. "Look, Naruto, I have to go. But think about it, ok? It makes a lot of things make sense." She stood up, brushing off her clothes.

"Ino..."

She spun around and smiled. "Strange, huh? That you can love someone and not know? 'Cos if you look deep enough I think you'll realise it. You and Sasuke don't fight because you're too different. You fight because you're the _same._"

If we're the same does that mean there's a chance Sasuke loves me too?

And why did I hope with all my heart that it was true?


	7. Butterflies

**I'm listening to**: Loves me not - Tatu

**Disclaimer**: I own a Naruto wall scroll! 

**Warning**: I OWN SASUKE'S ASS!!!

I'm sorry! I'm handing out tomatoes because this is a whole day later than I said it would be!!! hides behind shield from mouldy tomatoes suddenly launched at her really sorry!

It's short but cute.

Pairings, people! I need more pairings!!!

'Porn buddies' is a reference to 'Coupling.' In the case of an emergency that your best friend dies you go around to his house and get all his porn before his/her parents find it.

"Kiba! Kiba!" Kiba turned around; eyebrows raised in surprise as I jumped over people and sprinted towards his locker.

"What is it, Naruto?"

I bent over. "Hold on..." He waited impatiently for me to get my breath back.

"You'll never believe this!" I said triumphantly once I could breathe.

He pulled an English book out of his locker. "What, you got the strength to tell the Uchiha where to go?"

"No! People are being nice to me!"

"Sure, Naruto, because people are naturally evil."

"Yeah but...they're being nice! To me!"

He slammed the locker shut. "I wonder, is that because you entered a parallel universe and kissed Sasuke Uchiha?"

"It's your fault for that stupid dare! Where's Shika?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Seen...Shino?"

"No."

"Ok. Neji?"

"No..."

"...Ino?"

"Why would you want to see Ino?"

"Aah! But that's the point. I don't _want_ to see her."

"Well then, I haven't seen Ino."

"How about the Prince of darkness?"

Kiba grinned. "You mean your other half?"

"Hey! NOT out loud!"

Kiba began to laugh. "Why not? The whole school knows! That's why you haven't been spat on today."

"That was once..."

"Maybe it's because they know that as you're dating the elite you're now one of the in crowd or..."

"And it was an accident!"

"Maybe it's 'cos Sasuke will hurt them if they do."

I scowled. "No. They_ think_ Sasuke will hurt them. He wouldn't. He doesn't care."

Sasuke's face in my mind made my stomach drop down to my kneecaps. What was worse? Seeing Ino who knew the possible, almost, _maybe _dreadful truth? Or Sasuke with those blank dark eyes and smirking yet annoyingly kissable mouth?

"Oh shit, I sound like a teenage girl."

Kiba walked backwards to where I had suddenly stopped.

"You're talking out loud again, Naruto."

"Was not."

"Was too. And why are you a teenage girl? More than usual anyway?"

"It doesn't matter."

"No. It does. Come on! Tell Kiba."

"No. I'd rather you got Akamaru to bite me."

"He doesn't bite. Unless I ask him to. Hey, you'll never believe what he did yesterday! I was out of the room for five seconds, seriously _five _seconds..."

I relaxed. He'd talk about Akamaru until first period and by then Kurenai-sensei would tell him to shut his mouth or she'd sew it up. She's normally a very sweet lady but she hates people talking in her lessons.

But after that we had...

"Kiba!" Several people jumped as I grasped Kiba by the collar of his shirt. "We have P.E second period!!"

"So?"

"So?! The only lesson our class is grouped together for is..."

"P.E..." said Kiba, realisation dawning.

"Yes! With Sasuke!" I howled.

Kiba brushed away my hands. "Good. Then you can do him in the equipment cupboard."

And then he strolled away before I'd had time to come up with a good comeback.

I mentally groaned. Whether I was turned on by that idea or just disturbed was hard to tell.

"Kiba! Hey, wait for me!"

I tugged on the bottom of my shorts nervously. Kiba raised an eyebrow at me but didn't ask why I was half walking, half sneaking out of the changing rooms behind him. P.E is taught by a maniac in Lycra, accompanied by a green. eye browed version of 'mini me.'

"Ok! You can start by running around the field ten times!"

Oh, so not gonna happen.

Shika is skiving of course. It's just me and Kiba. Because he's a genius none of the teachers report him if he ditches. He's just a pain to have around otherwise – 'Hey, I _could _do this in two minutes flat but I'm gonna sit at the back of the class and sleep and be sarcastic about your teaching methods, ok?'

Guy-sensei never notices because...well, I'm not sure he even knows that Shikamaru is supposed to be in our class. Like I said he's kinda...hyper.

I saw Shino at the front of the class but no Sasuke.

"Hey," I said out loud. "Where's the bastard?"

"Here," came a voice behind me. Kiba looked terrified at being so close to Sasuke.

"Hey-Naruto-I'm-gonna-go-talk-to-um-hey-look-it's-Kai-see-ya!!" and then he left.

Which is ironic considering it's all his fault.

"Hi Sasuke," I said as listlessly as possible. Although everyone was being as noisy as possible (Guy-sensei neither noticed nor cared about this because he was doing warm ups, completely oblivious to the fact that only Lee was following him.) they were all complete _fakers _because they were eavesdropping on Sasuke and me.

"So?"

"So?" I echoed. My heart was skipping strangely fast. Had it always done that?

"Have you been avoiding me?"

"Well duh, Sasuke. Why did you do that?"

"You had a better idea?"

"Well, I... I...Well, you suck!!"

"We had a deal, dobe." That hated nickname.

"Bastard! You're so cold blooded!"

He linked our hands together so quickly no one else saw. His hands were warm and I could feel a pulse in his wrist. I flushed slightly. I didn't know Sasuke was capable of such an affectionate gesture.

"Your fingers are cold, dobe," Sasuke smirked. I scowled.

"They are in the mornings, ok? It's cold." I was staring straight ahead, pretending I didn't know that Sasuke was holding my hand.

"Ok! Let's go for our youthful morning jog!!" Guy yelled.

"Come to my house again."

"What?" I was surprised, wary and happy all at the same time.

On one hand I thought Sasuke would never let me go near his freakishly tidy house and mysterious family ever again. But however on the slightly cold right hand currently held tightly by Sasuke he had kissed me _twice _in that house. Sasuke wasn't a PDA person...except for that one time in the cafeteria.

And when we were twelve there was this accident when we...yeah, but that wasn't my fault. I told the fangirls it wasn't my fault. Not that they listened. But that's my story.

"Ok." I grinned at Sasuke and we stared at each other for a blissfully peaceful moment while my heart thudded against my ribs extra hard at Sasuke's smile...

"Hey! NARUTO!!!"

Kiba's shout caused twenty-five or so boys turn around and catch me and Sasuke acting closer than we ever had been...

Friends close. Porn buddies close. _Lovers_ close.

I ignored their eyes flick to Sasuke's face to mine and then to our linked hands and back up again just to check. Despite my impulses to escape quicker than Houdini in a buttered bikini I stayed there because Sasuke didn't seem bothered. But then he has people looking at him everyday. Adoring girls, jealous boys, Sakura.

_Sakura..._ I shook all thoughts out of my head. That was why I was doing this. Not because I loved Sasuke whatever Ino thought. Sakura, Sakura, Sakura.

Even so it wasn't until Guy-sensei spilt us up into teams I felt Sasuke's hand slip away from mine.


	8. Vanilla

**Song**: 4Ever – The Veronicas and Numb – Linkin Park

**Warning**: SasuNaru is LOVE!! So nya nya nya SasuSaku fans!! **Sasuke: **That's not a warning...

No but I got my point across! Love, love, love!!

**Disclaimer**: La la la...I'm ignoring the scary people who are telling me I don't own it...

Writing at 12:30pm seems to have a strange effect on me: this one is kind of intense. shivers I didn't know I could write like that... 11 pages too. Reviewers get cookies and vanilla scented spray (this will make sense...)

This is for ILoveInuyasha1/Sadasdasdasdasddas cos she's a sweetie on and on Gaia. I hope you like this one.

The house was empty. Beautiful but empty. Again. It seemed that Sasuke spent most his time here alone. No wonder he was such an antisocial bastard.

Sasuke headed for his room, almost taking it for granted that I would follow. I gripped my bag tightly and walked after him. I wasn't sure what I expected from this visit. After school Sasuke and I had left together, causing several jaws to drop and quiet whispers to follow us through the halls. There were gonna be some serious rumours tomorrow.

"Hey, Sasuke?" I asked as we climbed the tall staircase.

"What?" He answered without looking at me.

"Um...have you seen Sakura...lately?"

He stopped and turned so suddenly I walked into his chest.

"Is that all you think about, Dobe?"

"That's my reason for this deal," I muttered.

He turned and stalked up the stairs. "No, I haven't."

"No wonder," I said as we walked down the hall. "After that stunt you pulled she'll probably be stalking me to hack off my genitals."

Sasuke pushed open the door and immediately dumped his bag.

"Do we have to talk about _her?_"

I placed my bag down by Sasuke's. "Why do you care? You have the affections of the love of my life and you don't give a shit."

Sasuke lay on his bed, scowling.

"Love? You're so sure about that?" Except his tone was curious and doubting not mocking. But what did Sasuke care?

"Well, yeah. If you haven't been paying attention, Sasuke, I kissed my rival in the middle of the cafeteria for her. No offence but I'm desperate," I said as I sat on the edge of the bed. Sasuke suddenly turned his back to me.

What? What had I done wrong? Earlier in P.E he'd been almost warm, affectionate...for Sasuke anyway. But now he was blocking me again, every emotional barrier that boy had was shutting me out.

"Sasuke?" I whispered. I slowly lay down, sensing déjà vu. We'd been like this last time: Sasuke unresponsive and me as awkward as hell.

"Sasuke?" He turned to me so we were face to face. His eyes were blocked too. Beautiful, dark orbs: totally and utterly empty. Maybe there was someone who could break that someday...but who had put that haunting in his eyes in the first place?

"You don't love her."

"What?" He was so serious, staring at the ceiling as if it was what he was talking to instead of me.

"You can't love her. You don't. It's just some silly infatuation. I wouldn't have put you down as the type of guy who fell for a pretty face, Naruto."

I was hurt and indignant. "I'm not!"

"So why are you acting like you are?"

I breathed deeply. Old memories and feelings were resurfacing. None of them very comforting, except this one of Sasuke holding my hand.

"Hey," my voice breaking the sudden silence. "One of my friends the other day said that I was...actually in love with someone else. Without knowing it."

"It's not that hard," Sasuke muttered.

"How would you know?"

"I just do, ok?"

I turned my head and stared at Sasuke's profile. Everything from the curve of his jaw to the dark hair falling in his eyes was so beautiful I wanted to cry.

_What can I say to you so you hear my silent voice?_

"Have you ever been in love, Sasuke?"

"What do you care?"

"I..." How do I answer that? Sorry, but I might be in love with you?

"I just think...that maybe," he turned and stared at me. "You could do better than that. You deserve someone who loves you. _Loves_ you, loves you. And it's not her."

I pulled myself up, placing both hands on either sides of Sasuke's face, staring down into his eyes. And then I kissed him.

His shock was obvious. Before _he'd_ initiated the kisses, each one like teasing, brief touches, designed to make me doubt what I knew by this one stupid, arrogant, cold-blooded boy. That's all he was. That's when the barriers broke. And he was just a lost, lonely little boy.

Something flickered in the deepest recesses of my memory but I pushed it away. I could feel Sasuke pulling me down on top of him, running fingers through my hair. He was sensitive around his neck, which I discovered by accident. By concentrating on pleasing Sasuke I could forget about Sasuke's delicate and warm fingers sliding under my shirt.

That's what this was about. Forgetting. He was the one person in which I could forget about every person who pushed me away, made me feel like I was worthless or pathetic, lost family, trying to find someone, _anyone, _who believed in me. And by losing himself in me Sasuke could do the same.

I almost pulled away when I heard a noise outside the house but Sasuke pulled an arm out of my shirt and tugged my head back down again with a moan that sounded like '_Don't_.'

I wondered how far this would go, in that semi dark room, on a teenage boy's single bed, how far I would be willing to go. I couldn't have stopped then if I'd wanted. I didn't have the strength. If Sasuke wanted me – and he did, he _did _– he could have had me, taken my body, my mind, my soul and I wanted him to have it, willing to sacrifice all of it to him through sex.

The fingers rubbing my back, tangling themselves in my hair, grinding hips: all of it implied we were lost to this strange and sudden lust.

I don't know why I could hear all of these sounds when Sasuke was oblivious to them. By the front of the house...and then in the house...so close.

Sasuke suddenly increased the pace of the grinding we had: being utterly inexperienced it didn't take much to lose it in the face of this unfamiliar passion and it caught me so suddenly I moaned his name. "Sasuke..." It was a voice that sounded like someone else's.

There was someone here. Nearby. Quiet footsteps on the stairs.

In that moment, achingly slowly and gently Sasuke reached and tugged on the zip of my trousers.

"Naruto..." his eyes were glazed over, voice raw and yet his face was so peaceful.

We were caught then in that furious embrace. If I could I would have frozen it then, so bittersweet.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke snarled suddenly. He'd sat upright the split second after the door opened and was glaring at the person in the doorway with an intense anger. That particular person was apparently unconcerned he'd just walked in on the verge of my virginity being taken from me.

Sasuke hadn't pushed me away: instead he was holding me close protectively, an arm around my neck and the other doing my zip back up before wrapping around my waist.

"I wasn't aware you had company." The voice was smooth and calm. It sent chills down my spine. He even sounded like Sasuke.

"You're not supposed to be back until seven. Why are you here?!" Sasuke demanded.

"I'm not coming back tonight so I thought I should get some of my things."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Does it matter? I wanted to check on my baby brother...Only not quite so much, hey, Sasuke?" I felt Sasuke's grip on me tighten.

"Get your things and go," he muttered.

Sasuke's brother smirked. He was just as beautiful as Sasuke himself – but in a cold, cruel way. It was like Sasuke's face had started like his but softened and melted, smoothing away that harsh beauty.

"Fine. Your _friend _can stay if he likes. It's manners though to introduce me, Sasuke."

"Naruto, Itachi. Itachi, Naruto." Sasuke was grinding his teeth, almost spitting out the words.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto." Itachi stretched before turning away.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke." And then he shut the door behind him. I could hear him walking away to his own room.

Sasuke had his face buried in my hair. I didn't speak, unwilling to break his spell of vulnerability. We sat there, listening to Itachi around the house, gathering things before walking out of the house, front door clicking shut and then finally the purr of the car taking Itachi away.

Sasuke breathed out as if he'd been holding his breath the entire time Itachi had been around.

"Sorry about my brother."

"Doesn't matter." It did, that was unsaid between us. What could have been was there, except now we couldn't have it back.

Sasuke fell back onto the pillows, despite the fact that I was still straddling him. I slid off, lying down gently at his side.

"You can stay if you want," his voice was muffled because he had an arm over his face. I pulled it away and then placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"I'm not sure." It would either end up in me definitely losing my virginity or a really awkward night.

Sasuke gripped my wrist tightly. "Stay." And it wasn't just because he wanted to regain that moment: something had shaken him and unlike other times he had someone here to stop him feeling quite so broken.

"Ok..." I whispered before kissing him again.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

I lay back, almost disbelieving what was happening to me. Today was so unreal it felt like the hot water could wash it all away.

It also made me focus and preserve what had happened in my mind...making it last longer.

I was in Sasuke's bath. It smelt strangely like vanilla and cinnamon. It took me a while to work out that that's what Sasuke smells like.

I picked up one of the bottles on the side of the bath. Vanilla and cinnamon. The rest were the same: they all had vanilla or cinnamon in them. Vanilla extract, vanilla shampoo, honey and cinnamon...

I sighed and climbed out. Two weeks ago I would have teased Sasuke like hell about smelling like a girl...except now I just wanted to go back and smell his neck again.

I dried off and pulled on the clothes Sasuke had lent me. I unlocked the door and poked my head out. Sasuke must still be downstairs tidying up after dinner.

I crept along to Sasuke's room and gently shut the door behind me. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to snoop.

Normally you can tell what a person's like from their room. Kiba's smells like dog and has dog treats scattered everywhere. Shikamaru's just says that he's too lazy to clean it. Ino's is 'good girl gone bad.'

But Sasuke's is like no one lives there: like he tries hard just to make sure that there are no personal things or anything that gives away what he's really like.

Nothing under the bed, cupboard full of blue shirts and white shorts, there wasn't even a dirty magazine in his bedside drawer.

There had to be something.

Something suddenly clicked in my brain and I glanced at the bedside table I'd just been looking in. Last time I had been here there had been something on the top. What was it?

I scowled. My memory sucks. I wish my teachers would believe me when I say I just forgot about the homework.

I looked under the pillow on a whim: I mean, it's such an obvious place you wouldn't look there would you? Aside from a t-shirt that smelt strongly of Sasuke there was nothing but it gave me an idea.

I slid off onto the floor and lifted up the mattress. Score. One photo frame and a folder.

Photo! Of course – there had been a photo of Sasuke and his brother. I left the frame where it was but gently pulled out the folder. It was thick, full of documents but there were several photos in there too.

Just then I heard Sasuke making his way upstairs. I pulled out two of the photos and stashed them in my bag – I was going to return them, I swear, I just wanted to look – and then neatly put the folder and mattress back before jumping on the bed, looking like butter wouldn't melt in my mouth.

"Hey." Sasuke lounged in the doorway, wearing only boxers and a black t-shirt.

"Hey," I muttered back.

Sasuke gave me a strange look. I was acting guilty but he wasn't sure what I could have done.

I got up and walked over to him. "So...where do I sleep?"

Sasuke looked at his feet. "In here...if you wanted to."

Sasuke was asking me to share a bed with him? Why?

"I don't mean...What I meant was..." Sasuke was slowly turning pink, made even more obvious by his pale skin.

"No. I get it. Sure."

"Seriously? Sasuke glanced at me in surprise.

"Yeah. I bet your house is haunted or something."

He smirked. "Haunted? You're not afraid of ghosts, are you?"

"Who isn't?"

"Um...me?"

"Yeah, but that's cos you're probably a vampire."

"How did you reach that conclusion?"

"Dunno. Seemed obvious."

Sasuke was frozen for a moment but then I saw his shoulders shaking. Was he laughing?

He had a hand over his mouth, trying to hide it. He was!

"You know, I've never seen you laugh before."

He stopped, suddenly full of seriousness again. "Haven't had anything to laugh about." He walked across to his bed and climbed in, gesturing me to get in too.

"Vampires...Hey, Naruto, watch out for the monster under the bed."

"Did you have to put that idea in my head?!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sasuke was asleep. Or at least, faking it really well. I couldn't resist reaching up and stroking his hair out of his eyes. I played with a strand, watching him sleep.

"Naruto..."

I jumped as he softly said my name.

"Stop staring at me." Oh shit, he _was_ awake!

"Sorry."

"Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Dunno," I lied. He sighed.

"You're not scared of what I said about monsters are you?"

"It's all your fault."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No..." I muttered.

There was a pause and then Sasuke wrapped his arms around me. "You are _such _a loser."

I wondered if the vampires had taken back their Prince of darkness and left this actually feeling human being instead. He was really warm...my eyes were beginning to close.

"Maybe you're not a vampire..." I muttered drowsily.

Sasuke smirked. "You're such an idiot."

"You're such an asshole."

"Scaredy-cat."

"Bastard."

"Loser."

"Pretty boy."

"What?"

"You smell nice..." I buried my head in the crook of Sasuke's neck.

"The whole house smells like vanilla."

There was a silence.

"My mother always smelt like vanilla. And Jasmine tea."

"You don't."

"What?"

"Smell like Jasmine tea. You smell like vanilla and cinnamon. And hair gel," I added as an afterthought.

"Hair gel?"

I tugged his head down. "Yep. Gel."

"I don't use gel!"

"Then why does your hair look like a chicken's butt?"

"This is coming from a scruffy haired, ramen smelling orange loser?"

"Hair gel..." I said. "What else do I smell like?"

Sasuke sighed. "I don't know."

"You should."

"I'm not going to smell you!"

I pulled his face to my neck. "Now you have to." Sasuke reluctantly did so.

"Beef. And oregano."

"Oregano? What's that?"

"An herb."

"Huh." And then there was silence.

"Sasuke?"

"Mmm?"

"Where's your mom?"

"...She's dead."

"Oh. So's mine."

And that was the last thing we said to each other until we woke up the next morning, Sasuke's face in my hair and me still clinging on to Sasuke.


	9. Mixed feelings, red ribbons

**Song**: Ne verj, ne boysa – Tatu vs. Rammenstein.

**Warning**: ... waves 'Yaoi alert!' banner

**Disclaimer**: This is nothing to do with me...

I'm sorry this is late again but there was a family tragedy yesterday: our youngest kitty, Horatio, was hit by a car. I spent the rest of yesterday eating crisps and watching Lee Evans while passing my sister tissues.

Horatio Darcy Minards R.I.P. Sorry ginger, this one is in memory of you. Kinda makes me hostile towards this chappie.

They were doing it again.

The problem was I knew they were doing it: they weren't even being subtle about it. I'd told them over and over again but they _still did it._

Kiba and Shikamaru looked at me and sighed in unison.

"Oh for God's sake, I didn't sleep with Sasuke!!"

Kiba and Shika stared at me like they had no idea what I was talking about.

"Problem, Naruto?" yawned Shika.

"Yes," I muttered grouchily. "You keep looking at my lower half and sighing! I didn't do it with Sasuke!!"

"So you didn't do it?"

"No!" I howled."

"You didn't do anything?"

"I didn't do...oh."

"Oh? Oh?! Naruto, what do you mean 'oh'?" asked Kiba, staring at me intently.

"That doesn't sound very good, Naruto," said Shikamaru.

"Well, what do mean by 'anything'?" I asked.

They both groaned. "You did something, didn't you?"

"It's not the 'something' that bothers me." That much was true. The 'something' made me quite happy, thank you. "It's the 'almost' that's giving me grief."

"Almost? As in...Oh, I don't know... YOU ALMOST HAD SEX WITH HIM?!"

"People can hear you down there you know," said Shikamaru mildly, glancing down at the courtyard below us full of students enjoying the sunshine.

I sighed and lay back. I'd run it over in my head so many times. What could have happened if Itachi hadn't walked in, how far we could have gone, the look in Sasuke's eyes...

"Naruto! Naruto! Stop dreaming! Oh crap, you're dreaming about him aren't you? Ewww!"

"Bad dog. Down Kiba," Shika turned to me. "What happened? Did you?"

"Almost," I admitted. "It was different from last time we kissed. Something changed."

"Like?"

"Like...we'd changed. It wasn't about the deal. It was real."

Kiba and Shika absorbed this. "So...why didn't you?" Kiba asked finally.

"His brother walked in."

"You're kidding."

"No," I said, crossing my legs. "But if he hadn't...I kinda want to know what would have happened."

"We'd be sighing for a good reason," said Kiba.

"Shut up, Kiba. Why? You don't like the guy. Why are do you suddenly want him so badly?"

I fidgeted. "Well, after what happened in the cafeteria I talked to Ino...and she said something that I didn't want to be true but...might be."

"Like what? What?" asked Kiba eagerly.

Shikamaru sighed. "That you're in love with Sasuke."

Kiba and I screamed at the same time.

"What? That's impossible!"

"How'd you figure that one out!?"

"What the hell was Ino thinking!?"

"How do you know?"

"Yeah how...What?!" shrieked Kiba. "It's true?!"

"Well...is it?"

"I think it might be," I said softly.

Shikamaru sighed and lay down again. "So troublesome."

"Wait! Who are you and what have you done with my friends? Naruto can't be in love with Sasuke! Why are you so calm about it and how did you figure that out?"

"'Cos it's...I just know it's true."

"'Cos it was obvious."

"_Obvious?_"

"Yep. Obvious." But me and Kiba kept on staring at him. "Oh, you two are such idiots. It just was. In some strange crush kind of way."

Between Shikamaru and me, for the first time in history, Kiba was speechless.

"You're screwed," he said finally. "You're messed up, delusional and screwed."

"No...Almost screwed."

"Stop making jokes about it," I growled.

"No," they said simultaneously. I got to my feet and walked over to the stairs.

"In that case I'm going."

"Whatever."

"Hey, Naruto, go find Sasuke and ask him if he wants to..." I heard Kiba yell but I didn't hear the rest of it because I'd already dropped onto the roof of the canteen. All I had to do from there was climb into the first floor boy's bathroom in the main building.

Actually I had no idea what to do now. I could go find Ino. Avoid Sakura. Avoid Sasuke.

"Naruto."

Or avoid Neji.

"Hey, Neji." He didn't speak just waved me into a classroom. I glared at him as I walked past.

"Hey, this isn't going to be like last time when you were the distraction until Sasuke was able to get out of a meeting and tongue assault me against a locker, is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, shutting the door. "You mean, you and Sasuke kissed? Other times than in the cafeteria?"

"Yeah...you mean Sasuke didn't tell you?"

"No. He's not one to talk about things like that."

"Tell me about it." I hopped on to a desk. "So, what's up?"

"There's...something different," Neji said carefully.

"Oh. Between me and Sasuke?"

"Yes. Glad you noticed it. What I want to know is why."

I stilled. "Why?"

"How come after several years of fighting and furious rivalry you're not bothered about having to 'date' him?"

I shifted nervously. "Um..."

"Did you go to his house yesterday?"

"Yes..."

"What happened?"

"Nothing! God, why does everyone presume I slept with him? I didn't! Sure, _stuff_ happened. Really good _stuff_ but nothing really happened!! I might have done it if I'd had the chance but it didn't!! God, get out of my business!"

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Stuff?" He loaded so much accusation, curiosity and downright perverted interest into that one word I wanted to cut off his ponytail.

"Oh shit."

Neji coughed. "Ok...I won't ask but I gather that you didn't do...much?"

I blushed furiously. Shiiiiiiit. None of that stuff was meant to have come out.

"And you wanted to?"

That was the worst thing. Worse than almost doing it. Worse than everyone knowing what had happened. Worse than the fact I can't get that stupid pretty boy out of my head. I'd _wanted _it to happen.

I made a 'oh God, please don't ask me' noise that Neji's cousin makes when you ask her a question.

"Naruto...You do remember me telling you to be careful, right?"

"Um...yes?"

He sighed. "Well, this is clearly none of my business even if I do care about what happens to you and Sasuke." He got up and headed for the door.

"Hey Neji?"

"What?"

"What's up with Sasuke and his brother?"

Neji slowly let the door slide out of his fingers and shut.

"He's never gotten on with his brother," he said carefully.

"You've met him?"

"Yes. I have."

"He's just...I don't know. Sasuke was acting like he was trying to protect me from him or something."

"Itachi is not a bad person. But Uchihas are not good with emotions. There has been a wall between the two for a long time.

He's the only family Sasuke has, as far as I know."

"Oh. Thank you Neji."

"Naruto? If you see Sasuke don't tell him I talked to you about it."

"Oh...ok." With a nod Neji left.

I sat there, not bothered to move. I'd had enough of the curious glances, strange looks and whispers and rumours following me all day. If I was dating anyone else, _no one would care. _But no, this is the Student council's golden boy, moody and cool heartthrob of teenage girls, perfect, never-does-anything-wrong Sasuke. Once again I had to ask myself: How did I get into this mess?

I eventually got up – only 'cos my right foot was asleep – and walked out.

"Naruto-kun?"

I stopped and turned around in the direction of the feminine voice. "Hello, Sakura-san."

Sakura tugged on a loose strand of soft, pink hair. She had it pulled back away from her face today with a red ribbon.

"Hi." She looked away from me, suddenly shy.

"Um...I just wanted to ask you...none of the other girls could...we were wondering...Is Sasuke..."

"Gay? Pretty much." I was speaking carefully. Don't freak her out Naruto, please God, don't let me start acting like a clumsy idiot around her, it'll just show her how perfect Sasuke is.

Sakura twitched, just for a moment.

"Oh. Well... Are you two...?"

"Apparently," I shrugged. This isn't so hard. I can totally play it cool. Just avoid all verbal vomit.

"Oh. 'Kay. Thanks for talking to me."

"Oh. That's ok. So you...don't mind? I mean you're not going to kill me?"

She froze and then giggled in delight. "No! Why would I want to?"

"Well," I shifted my weight to my other foot. "It's just that you've liked Sasuke for so long and..."

"Yeah, I have. But Sasuke was never going to like me back, was he? Especially now."

"So there aren't going to be girls with hacksaws?"

She laughed again. "You're funny, Naruto-kun! No. We could be friends, y'know."

I smiled. Friends was a lot better than my previous ignored existence.

She paused. "Um...so this means you're...um..."

"Not exactly," I said.

"Not exactly?"

"Not exactly," I agreed, trying to get the message across to her.

Her eyes widened. "_Oh_. Ok...so if you wanted to go out sometime...when you and Sasuke aren't...y'know. That would be ok?"

I grinned. I had a guardian angel in the form of a pale skinned, arrogant Uchiha. How had he known that this plan would work?

"That would be ok," I smiled.

"Ok! Well, bye Naruto-kun!"

She skipped away and I waited until she'd gone around the corner before jumping up and down and punching the air. "Yes!"

Finally my day was turning around. I couldn't stop grinning.

"What now?" sighed Kiba as he and Shika walked out of the boys' bathroom. "You didn't actually do the Uchiha while we were on the roof, did you?"

"No," I said as calmly as I could. "But today looks a whole lot better."

"It's love. He's probably deluded. Or mad. Or seeing hallucinations?" Kiba wondered.

"Ha! I'm going to ignore you. Do you know why? Cos I'm better than you and refuse to sink to your level," I said with as much dignity as I could.

All I got for my efforts were twin stares.

"Bullshit," said Kiba.

I spun around suddenly, intending a very dramatic exit but instead walking into some guy face first.

"Oh! Hey, sorry..." and that was it.

The guy stared at me blankly; like I was so unimportant he could kill me in an instant and just not care. His eyes were so empty. It took me a moment to realise that sometimes Sasuke's eyes were like that. This guy was in my English class and aside from the fact that he had two older siblings – just as scary as he was – and he had possibly done some time in jail for killing someone I knew nothing about him. Even his name.

He stared for a moment and then said without any emotion whatsoever, "Doesn't matter," and then he stepped right past me, Kiba and Shikamaru leaving a trail of murderous vibes behind.

"Woah," muttered Kiba, suddenly freaked. "Creepy."

"Very," I agreed.

"So what happened? Was that Sakura you were talking to?"

"Yep!" I said, scary classmates forgotten. "I'll tell you after school, ok?" The school bell had begun to scream as we talked. A teacher had appeared like magic in the hallway, stinking of coffee and cigarettes, clearly upset at having to go back to dealing with us brats and started yelling.

"C'mon," muttered Shikamaru, pulling Kiba away.

I almost followed them but caught a strange scent in the air, one that you don't normally find in a high school: a faint smell of vanilla – which no one could normally place unless you'd smelt someone's neck all night long.

_Was Sasuke just here?_ _Did he see me talk to Sakura? And why am I bothered if he did?_

Love sucks.


	10. Photograph

**Song: **Show me the way – Natasha Thomas

**Disclaimer: **I highly doubt Santa will bring me the rights to Naruto (or Sasuke/David Tennant/Julian Rhind Tutt for that matter) for Christmas...

It wasn't that I fell in love with Sasuke.

It was more like I tripped down the stairs slowly, whacking into every banister and wall along the way and when I finally get to the bottom I lick my wounds and go 'Shit. I cannot believe I just did that.'

It was just something you can't help.

"Are you eating enough vegetables?"

"Yes, Iruka," I said, rolling my eyes. He _always_ asks and I _always_ lie.

"Or fruit?" Fruit flavoured Fanta counts, right?

"You're not eating just ramen, are you?" I paused for a second and then I put down the instant ramen cup.

I don't know why he makes such a fuss. I'm sure if I thought about it carefully ramen could be a fully balanced diet.

"Naruto," Iruka's voice echoed down the line. "You're a very bad liar."

"Am not!"

"Neither are you four years old."

"Harsh, Iruka."

"How's school?"

_That _shut me up. How could I answer that truthfully? I failed my maths test again; Sakura is speaking to me now I've got a ticket out of Loserville and I actually like someone I hate?

"It's ok."

"Now you're definitely lying."

"The truth is a long story."

"Try me."

"I have homework."

"You never do homework."

"I do now."

There was a silence. I knew how this would end. Sweet, can go mental (as his former pupil I know all too well) sometimes as stubborn as hell – but he'll always lose to me in a fight.

There was a crackle of static as he sighed.

"Do your homework, Naruto. I'll be checking."

"Bye Iruka!" I said triumphantly. No one has ever gotten information out of me until was I was ready to reveal it. Old habit, I guess.

I replaced the phone with a clunk. I hate hiding things from Iruka but I knew he would go mental if he knew the recent developments about Sasuke. I think his last memory of the two us was pulling us apart and telling us to go to the principal's office. I also don't think he wants me to grow up. As if I could stay the innocent kid I was when he taught me.

He is so overprotective sometimes though. Not that I mind, 'cos the only other person that worries about me is Ino. Shika and Kiba are used to me doing things by myself because...well, that's the way they know me.

I stepped into the shower, wincing at the hot water and then relaxing. It soothed most of my 'Gai-sensei's enthusiastic and _insane _(my word not his) celebration of energy workout' sores but did nothing for my internal angst. I doubt even ramen could heal that (this _is_ still Naruto speaking...but ramen fixes everything else.)

When I stepped out of the shower the steam had fogged up the mirror. I scrawled 'Naruto rules!' on it and went to get changed in my room next door. I don't live with anybody so I don't worry about locks on bathrooms or bedrooms.

_Hey...where's my necklace? _Yeah, that sounds weird but someone gave it to me a while ago and...It's just really special.

I must have put it in my backpack. I dug it out from under my bed and began pulling things out of it. Don't you do that? Instead of just searching through, it's so much easier to chuck things on the floor. I tugged my necklace free but at the same time several sheets of paper fluttered to the floor and scattered.

I scrambled after them just in case they were important and shoved them randomly in my bag before noticing the last few were different. Photos.

Photos?

And then I remembered.

I sat on the floor, cross legged and stared at the plain, white backs. So. These were special enough to Sasuke that he kept them hidden under his mattress. They could help me understand him better (I wasn't thinking about how the hell I was supposed to return them).

Ok, which one? Like a game show contestant I went "I'll take...door number two!" And then I flipped it over.

I recognised Sasuke instantly. No older than in the other photo I'd seen him in. He wore black, with his dark hair and eyes the same it was now but with a big smile on his face.

Itachi is next to him. His eyes are not on the camera. They're watching Sasuke.

I frowned. There was something – just something – wrong with that. They seemed...close. Their body positions, eyes and hands indicated friendship. What had happened? What had _changed? _

The last two were the people I presumed to be Sasuke's parents. A beautiful young woman smiled at the camera with Sasuke's smile, hugging her younger son lightly with genuine love. His father watched, a lot like Itachi.

So. This was Sasuke's family. And from what Neji had told me Itachi-san was the only one left. I looked at Sasuke's pretty mother hugging her young son so lovingly and felt a twinge of empathy. Maybe we weren't so different after all.

I placed the photo down gently. I needed to return that one to Sasuke quickly. I'd feel guilty having possession of something that meant so much to him.

I picked up the other photo, wondering if it was another picture of his family - or maybe of Itachi and Sasuke together before their bizarre rift and the coldness I had seen appeared – but the phone suddenly rang.

"Naruto?" It was a girl's voice. What? The only girl who ever rang me was Ino.

"It's Sakura." I was so surprised I dropped the phone onto the floor. I stared at it before leaning down and picking it up. This was unbelievable.

"Hello?"

"This is Naruto, right?"

"Yeah...um, sorry, Sakura-chan. I just dropped the phone."

She giggled. "Butterfingers! Hey, did you understand what we were supposed to do for the English homework from Kakashi-sensei? Because I think I forgot to do something..."

I picked up my notebook from the floor and flicked through it. "Yeah, here it is. We just had to finish the essay we started in class and start reading the second act."

"Thanks, Naruto!"

"Hey, how did you get my number exactly?"

"Oh, I just asked Hinata-chan to ask her cousin for me." Who was tha...oh. Neji.

Unlike Neji, Hinata is easy to _not_ notice. She's so quiet that she'll mention something in class and everyone looks at her in surprise – 'Hinata spoke? I'd totally forgotten she was there!' but then she blushes and goes silent and people forget again.

"Neji has my number?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I thought you would have...no?"

"No."

"Well, someone gave it to him or he got it some other way. Maybe Sasuke-kun has it too!"

There was a muffled noise in the background. Sakura called back "Ok, Mom, I'll be right there!" She talked into the receiver again. "Naruto-kun, I've got to go, ok? MOM, I SAID I'LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE!!!" I winced at the screech in my ear. Jesus, she's...shrill.

"You're treating me like a child!!! I'm not a baby anymore...Oh, bye Naruto! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Sakura-cha..." But she'd slammed down the phone already.

Well, that was possibly the...weirdest phone call of my life. It was different from how I'd imagined it.

But Neji knew my number? And Hinata-chan now knew it? And Sakura? And possibly Sasuke?

I switched on the radio by my bed and chucked my notebook on my bed. I'd forgotten about that stupid homework. Damn. Now I had to do it.

_When I go to sleep I pray_

_I'm waking up to I got you babe_

_Like the guy from Groundhog Day_

_Just wanna live forever this way_

_Flashback to seventeen_

_Got my ass kicked by the football team_

_Another loser on the scene_

_Editor of the chess club fanzine_

The DJ was playing some song that I vaguely recognised. Probably played it three thousand times when it came out but I'd never listened to the words properly. I snatched the Shakespeare play we were supposed to have read from under my bed and turned the volume up.

_I asked you out for losing Truth or Dare_

_The guys were cracking up until you said 'yeah'_

I shivered. That seemed all too familiar. I turned the volume down again and threw myself onto my bed. Ok, by some weird miracle 'Romeo and Juliet' would have become the most interesting book in the world. Some people have the will power to do the most boring things but I'm not like that. It's like 'I'll do it tomorrow and turn on the TV.'

Hey, they have a film version of this, right? Solved!!

_Pinch me, is this real?_

_I'm on a one way ticket out of Loserville_

_Now I'm off the social flat line_

_Things are so good that I'm_

_Taking down my star trek shrine_

_And you're more than just my valentine_

_You're my ticket outta Loserville_

I flicked through the book without much interest. Sure, I might have ended up in the 'smart people' English group but I resented reading books several decades out of date. Sakura loved it though, saying it was all so romantic and sad. Girls.

Sakura had been Juliet and Shikamaru had been Romeo. That had been funny. Sakura had gotten into it in a big way – she's in the drama club – but Shikamaru was reading it in a monotone and started yawning at the balcony scene. Sakura had stopped mid-sentence and thrown a rubber at his head. This all completely passed by our English teacher who was reading something that I doubt Shakespeare ever wrote and also kept making him giggle.

That scary red headed kid – Gaara - had been Juliet's cousin, Tybalt and he friggin scared the hell out of me. He practically _was_ an egotistical maniac with a sword. But in the film they have guns. Sweet.

'_Two households, both alike in dignity_

_In fair Verona where we lay our scene_

_From ancient grudge break to new mutiny_

_From these two foes_

_A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life...' _I read aloud. Jesus. I'm supposed to have at least read some of it. In disgust I tossed the play onto my bed and strode towards the kitchen, utterly forgetting about the photograph hidden out of sight and where it would stay until my mind climbed back from dead playwrights, classmates and instant ramen.

**XxXxXxXxXxXx **

"Sakura, could you be Lady Capulet and Ino, Lady Montague. And for our leading man and lady..." Kakashi-sensei viewed the room with a lazy eye. The girls all looked eager, every boy thinking 'Don't choose me.'

"Sasuke, can you be Romeo, please and..." his voice trailed off as his gaze flickered over every wide-eyed, begging girl in the room who wanted a chance to act with Sasuke.

Kakashi-sensei might have smirked; it was hard to tell, but his one visible eye made it clear what he was thinking – it was the same look he had when he had a copy of a certain orange book.

"Well, let's be adventurous today, shall we? It was rumoured that Shakespeare wrote his 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day' speech to a man so let's have a young male to fill the role of Juliet. How about you...Naruto?"

I stopped doodling on my desk and looked up. _What? _

"Come on now, Naruto, the world of literature needs you," Kakashi-sensei was enjoying this. And who are you to talk about literature?!? English teacher and professional perv that he is.

"Anytime now. We're all waiting," continued the sadistic bastard. Shikamaru and Kiba sent me looks that were half sympathetic and half on the verge of choking from suppressed giggles.

I picked up my book and reluctantly walked up the front and took my place next to Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei was already picking up a suspicious orange book and making himself comfortable in his swivel chair. "Begin anytime," he said, waving a hand vaguely in our direction. "From where we were last time as the...er...last attempt at the balcony scene went a little bit pear-shaped." (I.e. Sakura had continued to throw things at Shikamaru starting with a rubber and ending with a calculator.)

I could feel myself turning red as Sasuke impassively opened his book and began from Romeo's first speech in act 2, scene 2.

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?  
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.  
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,  
Who is already sick and pale with grief,  
That thou her maid art far more fair than she..." 

Sasuke read through the whole thing – this had strange effects on several people: the boys to promptly fall asleep on the desks, the girls to start salivating...and for me to feel really, really weird.

Enter Juliet...I mean me.

"Ay me."

"She speaks! Oh, speak again bright angel..."

And the clock ticked.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx **

**About 15 minutes later**

"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" Sasuke turned and stared at me. I failed to notice my cue because I was trying to will the clock to go faster. Sasuke coughed slightly and I jumped.

"Oh...What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?"

"The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine." Jesus, now he really was staring at me. I focused my eyes on the page.

"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it

And yet I would it were to give again." Sasuke opened his mouth to go on but Kakashi lowered the book from his face and said...well, this is what he said.

"Kiss him then." No amount of therapy will ever make this moment ok. Story of my life.

Sasuke glared at our teacher with a look that frightened even me. "I beg your pardon?"

"Well, you've just declared your undying love for one another. That requires a kiss, don't you think?" He looked at our classmates. "Who agrees? Hands up." For a heartbeat there was silence and then Kiba and Shikamaru put their hands up. Followed by Ino. Followed by several of the girls. And then the rest of the class.

"There you have it, boys. A kiss please."

Sasuke and I exchanged a single glance.

This was way upsetting.


	11. Like whoa

**Song**: Miss Murder - AFI

**Other stuff**: Don't own. Kk?

**I AM SORRY! **Sorry, sorry, sorry!  
My offences are:  
1) Dropping this halfway through this chappie before Christmas. (In my defence I had mocks.)  
2) Getting serious writer's block and STILL not updating.  
3) And worst of all I never answered any of my reviews! I'm sorry!! If you've forgiven me, review...I'll answer this time...

-The rose has thorns  
-Yamazaki-Rei  
-jllpill82  
-abcoolness (I updated, you can stop taking away my kitkats now.)  
-Riiku-senpai  
-OnlyTimeWillTell  
-kyhy  
-And especially to Kyla45 who sent me such a sweet review that arrived in my inbox when I was getting really depressed about my exams.  
And thanks to all the people who faved or put it on alert but whose names I CBA to look through my inbox for. (Excuse my laziness; I have half a ton of Food tech coursework to do...)

Ok...after several months...here it is.

* * *

"Naruto! Come out!"

"No!" I called back to Kiba, my voice echoing strangely.

"Come out and stop acting like a girl!"

"I told you no and besides I'm not talking to you!!" I stare at the pale blue door. And walls. And floor. It is very sexist to make the girls' loos pink and the boys' loos blue.

Not that I'm saying I want pink bathrooms.

"C'mon! It wasn't that bad!" Kiba whines.

"Naruto, you're being melodramatic," Shikamaru says matter of factly.

I was so angry I forgot to speak, just hissed through my teeth.

"Look, you _are _dating him, you _have_ kissed him before, _in_ public and it wasn't our fault!"

"The first thing _was_ your fault to begin with, I _know_, that was your fault too – and his – so it was too!" I know I'd make a crap lawyer. 'Cos it's your fault' is not a good enough reason in court or so I've heard.

"You looked like you were enjoying it," Kiba said as only Kiba could. Shikamaru snorted.

"You shouldn't have put your hands up," I muttered, trying to block it out again.

"It was for the sake of literature..."

"Literature my ass! I thought you didn't swing that way!"

"It was either that or humiliating you. Besides I wanted to see it close up. Jesus, that was weird but also kinda cool..."

I sat on the toilet seat with my eyes shut. That was embarrassing. Everyone had been staring and watching Sasuke lean over, take my hand and then kiss me? What was he doing, channelling the spirit of frigging Romeo Montague?

"Naruto? Oh God, you're thinking about him again, aren't you? Ewww!"

"Was not!!!" I yelled back.

"Considering you're so defensive I'd say you were," muttered Shikamaru.

"Don't do that!" Kiba hollered. "What are you thinking, dreaming about Sasuke while we're in the room? It's creepy! Please tell me you're not thinking about him naked!"

_Oh shiiiiiiit..._

Kiba howled "Naruto!!"

"You put it in my head!" I said, mentally kicking naked Sasuke out of the back door.

Kiba was stunned into silence. "Crap! I just thought about it!"

Shikamaru sighed "Can you please get over yourselves now?"

"Aren't you thinking about it?" Kiba asked.

"No. At least Naruto is supposed to think of Uchiha naked. You, Kiba, are just mental."

"Wait, what? What do you mean 'I'm supposed to'?"

"You're dating the guy. Duh."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I've thought about him...y'know!"

"Why not? You looked happy enough kissing him and besides..." Shikamaru delivered the final blow. "You're in love with him."

I let my head _thunk_ against the side of the stall.

"Jesus, Naruto, it's not the end of the world," Shikamaru grouched.

Kiba laughed.

That did it. "Oh, for God's sake! I do not want to see Sasuke naked!"

The door to the bathrooms swung open. "I'll keep that in mind," said a husky voice.

Kiba and Shikamaru suddenly had places to be. "Bye Naruto! We have this thing...you know...that really important thing..." And _that_ was the last I heard of them.

I quickly picked up my feet off the floor while Sasuke was searching for the stall I was in and held my breath.

A pair of feet appeared were visible underneath the door, waiting patiently. Seconds and then long minutes ticked by. I clutched my feet, perched on the edge of the seat, trying hard to breathe quietly. He rapped on the door with his knuckles. I ignored it.

Eventually there was a sigh and the sounds of his footsteps walking away and the creak of the door opening and shutting. I waited for a few minutes just to check. I tugged on the lock, wincing at the metallic sound of metal on metal and then the door swung open silently. Just a fraction. Enough.

Not for me to slip out of course, but for some sneaky, underhanded asshole to push me back _into_ the stall and then slip in and shut and lock the door behind him, sure. Bet you didn't know that.

Me, I'm back on the toilet seat.  
"That was...clever," I grudgingly admit. That was probably a trick worthy of me. I didn't know he had it in him.

"You sound impressed." I shrugged.

Sasuke sits on the floor and leans his back against the door. "Anything you want to talk about?"

I rested my feet on the floor again. "Why are you asking?"

"Because you ran out of that classroom faster than if I'd done something like bite you." He rested his arms on his knees and linked his fingers together in that sexy, moody way he does.  
I bit my lip. But Sasuke has this weird habit of being able to tell what I'm thinking most of the time.

"You're not actually embarrassed...are you?"

"I'm not used to...touching people like _that_," I muttered.

"What makes you think _I_ am?"

"You don't care about who sees you! In fact you want everyone to see you so they'll stop bugging you!"

"Look, I'm not exactly comfortable with touching other people but..."

"But...?"

"It's different with..." he suddenly scowled. "That's not what this is about."

"What? What were you going to say?" I asked, my heart feeling too large for my chest to hold it. "Different with..."

"Naruto, it doesn't matter!"

"It does!" I slid off the seat and sat in front of him. "It's different with...me. Is that what you were going to say?" When he didn't reply I pushed harder than I meant to. "Sasuke! Tell me!"  
"Naruto, stop! Learn to keep out of other people's business!"

I jerked suddenly. "It's not my fault you seem incapable of being warm to another human being," I sent straight back at him.

"What do you want me to do? All that cute, hands holding, kissing stuff?"

I glared at him. It was a pretty good glare. Even Shikamaru wouldn't want to be on the end of it. "What's wrong with that? If you ever fell in love with someone wouldn't you want to be around them all the time and touch them and stuff?"

"Because it's stupid! Love's not like that!"

"Oh, would you rather love was like us, always fighting and hating each other? Give me a break, Sasuke!" Sasuke went silent.

"Love isn't perfect, Naruto," he said finally.

"No, it's hard but if it's worth it and it's right then they end up together anyway!"

"Have you been watching too much TV?"

"No! If it's what you really want you won't be afraid to fight for it!"  
He shifted. Something I'd said had worked. "Well, how does this touching thing work then?"

I smirked. "At least I know how it works. TV is good for that anyway." He scowled and I laughed. "Ok, give me your hand. Give it!" He reluctantly held it up and then tugged it away but I grabbed it and held on. His palm was cool and smooth. I reached for the other one but he beat me to it.

"Your hands are clammy," he told me with no emotion whatsoever.

"You scare me," I told him and his lips twitched. But then his head jerked as he heard something outside the bathroom door. He separated our hands and tugged me up. He sat on the seat, as I had done with his feet up, and pulled me so I was sitting on his lap.

"Wha..." I started but he placed a hand over my mouth.

Someone opened the door. "Naruto? Sasuke?" Neji walked down the row of stalls, looking. "Naruto?" I opened my mouth to speak but Sasuke had found a more effective way of stopping me talking: by kissing the hell out of me.

"Naruto?" Neji walked back and I could tell by the way he paused he was checking for feet underneath the doors.

"Neji-senpai!" Some tiny kid came in. "Sakura-san is looking for you. She said the meeting is about to start and she wanted to talk to you about her club and..." He continued to talk while Neji stayed silent. I knew _he_ knew that we were in here...but he left with the boy trailing behind him.  
Me? Yeah, still stuck in a bathroom, making out with Sasuke Uchiha. I tried to stop, I really did. I just don't know where my ability to speak or my willpower had gone. He probably ate it.

So I let Sasuke molest me for a while. His hands around my waist and in my hair felt strangely good. But then something clicked in my Uchiha induced pleasure frazzled brain.  
"Sasuke!" I protested. "Sasuke!" He pulled away, still hugging me tightly.

"What?"

"Meeting? Student council meeting perhaps?"

"Oh. That."

"Oh, that?! Sasuke!" His face turned sulky and I watched his lips turn into a pout.

"Do I have to go?" I mentally groaned.

"You're supposed to!"

"And I don't _want_ to."

"But..."

"It's the end of the day, there's no more school and you don't have any activities you need to go to, do you?" I shook my head.

"Then I'm going to ditch it."

"You're not going?"

"Duh."

"Um..." I fidgeted on his lap, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Is he gone?" he suddenly asked.

"What? I mean, yeah, he has but what has that got to do with...whoa!" Sasuke had picked me up, put me back down on my feet and then tugged me out of the bathroom by my wrist.

"Ow! Hey! Hey! You're got really bony fingers!" I yelped. We were going through the school in a way it was impossible for anyone to see us for definite; we were going that fast – him graceful and quick, me stumbling and clumsy - and also avoiding the main corridors. Besides it was after school and everyone that was still here was hidden in club rooms or outside doing sports.  
And then we were outside. I blinked in surprise as Sasuke dropped my wrist.

"Sasuke?" I asked uncertainatly as he turned away from me.

"You coming?" he called over his shoulder.

"Where?" I asked.

"Anywhere."

Anywhere.

So I followed him.

* * *

"Dobe, you have ice cream on your nose," Sasuke said impatiently. I scrunched up my nose trying to see but I just ended up cross eyed. _Uh, dizzy..._

Sasuke calmly rubbed my nose with a tissue that he produced from nowhere and threw in a bin.  
"Oh. Thanks."  
Sasuke smiled beatifically. "Idiot." Always his most striking before he insults me.

"Can we get ramen now?"

"You just ate."

"Not ramen." Sasuke rolled his eyes. But I knew he'd cave. So far today whatever I'd asked for I'd eventually gotten, whether it was sweets or kisses.  
I was trying to work out what the ratio for sweets to kisses was when Sasuke gave in and dragged me over to a ramen shop.  
Goody.

"Naruto?"

"Uh huh?" I answered. I loved the way he said my name. Naruto, Naruto, _Naruto_...

"What do you _want _dobe?" he asked.

I stared at the menu board in front of me in slight disbelief. "I can have anything I want?" He sighed.

"Yes, anything. Just pick."

_Anything..._I grinned mischievously. Loophole.

* * *

Half an hour later ramen bowls were stacked up beside me and Sasuke was tapping his fingers on the counter.  
"Are you done yet?" I licked my lips and considered. _1, 2, 3, 4 bowls of ramen. 5, 6, 7, 8 bowls of ramen!_

"Dobe?" I forgot about my little song and glanced up at him. His onyx eyes were blank and I remembered the same empty look in Itachi-sama. It must be a family trait, along with that cocky smirk.  
I placed my last bowl on the table with a satisfying _clack! _and grinned. "Sure, all done."  
Sasuke sighed. "You cost as much as a girl would." I stuck my tongue out. "Yeah, but you like me better!" His mouth twitched.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." He passed some money over to the guy behind the counter and got up, stretching. I avoided looking at the gap of skin between his trousers and where his shirt rode up cos it made me feel really _squicky.  
_I stood and stared at the ground as Sasuke began to walk away before jogging after him. "Hey! Wait up!"

We walked in silence and the bright lights of the main street disappeared behind us.

"Hey...Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"When you said you liked me better...does that mean you like me?"

_Yes, ladies and gentlemen he's done it again. Roll up to see this amazing and good-looking blonde get beaten to a pulp..._

Sasuke swept a piece of hair out of his eyes. "Did I say that?"

"Yes, you did!" I said furiously. Typical! "Don't change the subject!" Sasuke suddenly touched a strand of my hair and rested a hand on my face. "And what if I do?" he asked huskily.

I swallowed. "Um...then. Um. That'd be...good?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Good? You _want_ me to like you, dobe?"

"Naruto," I corrected automatically. "Oh. Um. Well, hypothetically if I _did_...what would you do?"

He smirked which made me nervous. Sasuke Uchiha's smirk: Armageddon.  
"I'd have to do this."

And then he'd pressed his lips onto mine again for the 20-something time that day. Properly this time, like he'd kissed me at his house and in the bathroom, instead of shyly and quickly.  
"Naruto!" And a horrified exclamation came from behind me and instinctively pulled away from Sasuke. By doing this I revealed who I was kissing to the _one_ person I didn't want to find out.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Armageddon looks quite nice right about now.


	12. Forbidden

The boring stuff: Don't own, boys kissing, please review

**The boring stuff**: Don't own, boys kissing, please review. Okies?

Also something is up with my email – I haven't gotten any of my reviews etc sent to my inbox so if you sent a pm or something I wouldn't have gotten it, ok? It's driving me nuts.

Also this is later than I said it would be. Sorry, I got stuck: I hit a slight bout of depression in the middle. Feeling totally pathetic does tend to bring your muse down.

I was banned from seeing Sasuke. On account of the fact he was a bad influence on me.

I pleaded with Iruka. I tried to explain. I threw a fit and screamed and said he was being overdramatic and I was old enough to decide for myself who I saw.

But Sasuke remained taboo and out of my life.

And Iruka even put Kakashi on the case so I would keep away from him at school. I wondered if he would because he seemed to delight in pushing me and Sasuke together (despite my embarrassment) or whether Iruka had threatened or bribed him.

Anyway this is Sunday. It's been several days since I got busted, dragged back to my flat and told I was to never see him again.

And I'm lying on my bed, bored out of my skull.

What bugs me is I want to see him. The stupid prick won't get out of my head. Every time I shut my eyes he's there smirking at me.

I rolled over to stare at the clock. Damn. I wonder if he misses me at all.

By that I mean I hope he does.

I picked up the photograph I hadn't had a chance to return yet and stared at Sasuke's face. Damn. How am I meant to give it back to him now?

Well, Iruka said I was to never take Sasuke to my flat, go out with him or see him at school ever again. He said nothing about Sasuke's house, especially if I'm not _specifically_ going there to see Sasuke.

I got up and went searching for my shoes. I suddenly had a lot more energy.

Before I left I picked up the phone. I needed an alibi and I knew the person who would provide it if Iruka found out I wasn't home this evening.

"_So you want me to cover for you if Iruka finds out you left your house? And say what?"_

"_Anything," I said, holding the phone against my ear while I looked for a clean-ish pair of socks. "Just as long as he doesn't know I was at Sasuke's!"_

"_Ok," Kiba sighed. "But why are you going to see him anyway? I'd have thought you'd want a reason not to see him."_

_I located one sock. "It's complicated."_

_Kiba snickered. "Sas-uke and Nar-uto sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i..."_

_I put the phone down on him._

This was a stupid plan.

Actually it didn't even count as a plan because it was so damn stupid!

_Press the doorbell_ I urged myself. _Just do it!_

"I'm sorry, is there a reason you're standing on my front porch?"

"Jesus!" I jumped backwards and fell off the step, landing with a crash.

"Ow..."

But the person standing behind me smirking is not the love of my life at all.

"It's Naruto, right?"

"Uh...yeah." I take the hand offered to me and he pulls me up.

"Itachi-san?"

He nods. "Yes, Sasuke's brother. Not that Sasuke would willingly admit it." I moved my feet, uncomfortable but he didn't notice and moved me aside to open the door which he held open for me.

"Are you going to come in or dither on the doorstep all day?"

I hesitated. "Um..."

"You're here to see Sasuke, I know but talking to me for five seconds won't kill you." I stepped into the front hall and kicked off my shoes.

"Haven't seen you around here in a while, Naruto-kun," Itachi said, shutting the door.

"Well..." I wasn't sure how much Sasuke had told him.

"No, I don't know. My brother tells me nothing, Naruto."

"Aah...well. My adopted father kind of found out about us. And he wasn't happy."

Itachi's eyebrows raised a fraction. "Not because of...?"

"No! But...he kinda doesn't approve of...Sasuke."

Itachi's mouth twitched. "Oh yes?"

"Well, we got into fights all the time in middle school. And he kind of thinks Sasuke is a bad influence on me. I doubt that's true but..."

Itachi smirked. "Aah, I see. But you've come over here anyway because?"

"I...Iruka doesn't know I'm here," I mutter. Itachi is now trying his hardest not to laugh.

"But you defied his orders to come see my brother, why? You didn't answer my question, Naruto."

I open my mouth but the voice that speaks next is not mine.

"What are you doing?" a furious voice hisses. Sasuke appears out of nowhere on the stairs. He skids across the hallway a little and possessively grabs my wrist. "Why are you talking to him?"

Itachi is no longer smiling. "We were just talking, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes are dark and unreadable. "I don't want you near him, ok?" And then he drags me away up the stairs forcefully by my wrist. I twist around to give Itachi an apologetic look.

Sasuke drags me up to his room. But what surprises me is that he's mad at Itachi and doesn't hold me to blame at all. I mean I was talking to Itachi: there were two people in that conversation but Sasuke is blinded by anger.

He walks back and forth across his room, muttering under his breath. I sit on his bed, silently unnerved.

He notices me finally. "Wait...why are you here? I thought Iruka banned you from seeing me. Ever." A shred of anger slips into his face again. Iruka wasn't a favourite teacher of his but now there was open contempt in his face. Clearly he disliked what had happened as much as I did.

"Well, I was bored. And Iruka doesn't know. And..." Sasuke waits, looking slightly disappointed and then hopeful as I tail off.

"I kind of missed...you," I said finally, ruffling my hair nervously.

"Oh?" Sasuke is emotionless. That bothers me.

"What?" I get to my feet. "So I risk being grounded forever to come see you and you say 'oh?'!"

"It has been quiet without you bothering me every day." I'm hurt but brush it off. Damn, he's so cold.

"Fine," I muttered. "I'll just leave then." But Sasuke grabs my arm.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh? It sounds exactly like it did, Sasuke. I'm sorry, I won't bother you anymore." I tug my arm away.

"Dobe?" I keep walking.

"I missed you too." I pause in the doorway.

"Just...stay for a while longer?"

"Maybe I don't want to," I said, keeping my voice casual.

"Even if I got you ramen?"

"You did?!" He smirks.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you were here to see me?"

I shrug nonchalantly. "Maybe you're not deserving of my company, if you're going to talk to me like that." Somehow in my head the assholeness disappeared. Or at least got toned down.

But anyway if he was going to be a prick I decided I'd rather spend my evening waiting for paint to _peel._

He couldn't make me stay.

­­­

I found out that by a simple smirk, a promise of ramen and agreeing to let me stay the night I would agree to do what ever he wanted me to.

Damn. Uchihas get whatever they want.

We watched a film, ate some popcorn (NB: popcorn + ramen is not as good as you'd think. Ok, I'd have thought.)

"You're tired, aren't you?" I shifted and my fingers curled around something soft.

"I'm not tired," I muttered dreamily. I was curled up on the sofa next to Sasuke who made an excellent pillow/blanket/thing to hug.

"Yes, you are." I tried my hardest to lift my eyelids. It felt like they were glued.

"Nope. You must be imagining things." And then I gave myself away by yawning.

"We should move and go to bed," Sasuke sounded reluctant. He seemed to be as comfortable as I was.

"Or we could not," I suggested.

"No, my brother will come home in a few hours. Besides I think sleeping on this thing would hurt."

I swore.

"Do I have to carry you?"

"Depends. Can you?" But the next minute I was being picked up, bridal style, and gently carried away.

"Fuck. I can't believe you. I'm not a girl," I said irritably, still unable to open my eyes.

He chuckled, which from my position was really just a vibrating in his slender, pale throat. "Tough. I'm still going to take care of you."

My eyes opened suddenly in shock and I froze. He must have felt me stiffen and he was worried. "Dobe?"

"Mm?" He put me down on a bed gently – his bed - and pressed a hand to my forehead. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I whispered. He studied my face, not quite believing me.

"If you say so. I'm going to get a drink, ok?"

I must have nodded. I heard him leave. And I felt shaken by what he had said.

I suppose that the words that are most meaningful are the ones that are said in the moment.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Sasuke was asleep. Really asleep this time. He looked so much younger when he slept. Like any of the sharp lines and the harshness of his coal-black eyes had been taken away.

I traced the outline of his jaw, ran a finger from his forehead down to his chin, touched his lips and eyelids. Damn, but he was beautiful.

That was another thing that bothered me. When had I started looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing on Earth?

I must have stared at him for several hours or so. Nothing helped me sleep, not even the amazing powers of Sasuke. After a while I'd just let him fall asleep.

I gently eased back the covers and got out of bed so I wouldn't disturb him. Maybe a drink or some ramen would help.

But there was a light on downstairs already.

In the dim living room, where the TV was set on its quietest setting, Itachi greeted me without looking up.

"Morning, Naruto."

"Um...morning," I edged in the room, feeling uncomfortable in Sasuke's clothes.

He was watching sitcom reruns – which wasn't the kinda thing I'd have expected for him to watch. But he wasn't really watching it. Just staring blankly at the screen. He gestured for me to sit next to him. I paused, torn between Sasuke wanting to kill me for talking to his brother – but then he'd banned _Itachi_ from talking to _me_ – and boredom and loneliness on a sleepless night.

I made myself comfortable on the sofa. Wordlessly he passed me a bowl of popcorn.

"Uh...thanks," I muttered, grabbing a handful.

He returned the bowl to its original place. "Can't sleep either?"

"No," I said.

"And Sasuke?"

"Completely out. I didn't want to wake him." Itachi regarded me with some surprise then he turned back to the screen.

"Naruto?"

"Mm?"

"Can I say something?"

"Uh...sure."

"Sasuke has always had people around him. People who want to be his friend, his girlfriend, who want something from him. And even though he has some people he hangs around with they're not really friends. But, I don't know. I think you're the first person in a long time that really cares about him."

I dropped my popcorn. "I..."

"I know you used to fight," he continued. "But back then, after our parents died, for a long time he was just a zombie. On the days he fought with you there would be a spark in his eyes. And recently though it might not seem it he's happier. I guess I'm just trying to thank you for helping my brother." I nodded dumbly.

"So he wouldn't have..."

"Talked to me about you? No, this is just speculation. But you do care about him, don't you?"

I nodded again furiously.

Itachi chuckled. "Aah, I wonder what our parents would say if he was dating a guy. And more if what I walked in on a while ago is something to go by..."

"We didn't do anything!!" I hissed, suddenly remembering.

"You didn't? Looked like you were," he remarked.

"It was getting to that..." I admitted.

"Oh, I spoilt the mood, did I? But you did stay the night, didn't you?" He was perceptive. Like Sasuke he could read my face.

"Yes. But nothing happened then either!!"

"Never said it did," he said.

"Then don't sound all pervy and all-knowing!" I said angrily.

"Did you want to?" I flushed. He was _worse_ than Sasuke.

I decided I needed ramen _quick_ so I left Itachi to his lonely evening for one and spent the next 15 minutes in the kitchen devouring all of the ramen I could find.

I picked up two more ramen cups and stomped back to the living room.

"Have you gotten over your little tantrum?" I nearly left again – there was a fast asleep, beautiful _god _up stairs after all – but then I figured I should have the upper hand. So I sat down on the sofa and ate my ramen in silence.

And it was working. It was actually _working_. Itachi kept glancing at me. First it was in surprise that I'd kept my mouth shut and then in annoyance. Now he was giving me full out evils.

"Alright. Are you really that prude?"

"Sure, because I want to talk about sex to my boyfriend's brother," I muttered sarcastically.

"Who else are you going to talk about it with?"

"Ok, you have a point," I grudgingly admitted.

"Because you're definitely not talking to Sasuke about it?"

"What does it matter to you?" I snapped. "You're not talking to him at all!" And then his eyes narrowed, like Sasuke's does, and his mouth got thinner and thinner and then finally his gaze of indifference turned to one of hate. Uchihas sure go in for revenge, believe me.

"So? At least I'm not just some dumb blonde whore he brought home!" he hissed.

"Grow up. You _look_ like a girl. When was the last time you talked to him anyway? What did you do to make him hate you so much?"

"Have you even considered why Sasuke agreed to date you? Do you even think outside your own little head? You _think_ you care about Sasuke but you can't even be asked to talk to him when you're worried or open up to him at all!"

"Oh yeah? Well, maybe I'm scared!"

"What the hell have you got to be scared of? My own little brother hates my guts for something that wasn't even my fault but he chooses you over everything else!"

"Maybe I'm scared of being rejected," I said quieter than before.

"Rejected?" Itachi sounds surprised. At least we've stopped yelling but Sasuke sleeps surprisingly deep so I wasn't worried about him being awake to hear me.

"I don't want to risk opening up to him," I explained, the words tumbling out of my mouth. "I never wanted this but it happened because of some stupid dare. If I'd stayed away from Sasuke like I've managed to do for so long I never would have realised I was in love with him!"

There was a silence. I'd realised what my traitorous mouth had said and frozen with shock. Itachi was probably a mass murder or something and I was going to die for strange possessive incest-like issues.

"Oh. Well, that's good then." And just like that Itachi picked up his popcorn bowl and left.

"Wait! Hey, get back here! What do you _mean_?!" I wailed.

I pathetically trailed after him with my tail between my legs.

"Itachi! Come on...don't be mean."

He continued with his chores like nothing had happened. "Just something. Go to bed, Naruto."

"Shan't!" But I was yawning and the exhaustion was making me ache. I just wanted to go back to bed and to Sasuke. "You can't make me."

"Tough. I'm bigger than you." And for the second time that evening I got picked up and carried to bed.

"This is embarrassing," I muttered drowsily.

"Oh, so you'll let my brother do this to you?"

I was going to ask how he knew but he'd already slid me under the covers where Sasuke reached for me in his sleep like I'd never been gone. I hugged him back tight, fingers in black hair, pressing against pale skin, feeling like I'd been apart from him forever.

"Yes," a silky voice whispered in the darkness. "That's a very good thing indeed."

But I could have been imagining it.


	13. Bad dreams

Disclaimer: Only the very odd and sometimes random storyline is mine

Disclaimer: Only the very odd and sometimes random storyline is mine.

I read the whole of this fic yesterday...and I _DESPISE_ it. I really don't think much of my own writing.

ABCoolness, you can leave my kitkats alone now. And Ikuto is bringing sexy back.

xXxSasuNaruxXx

_It started out as the same dream I always had._

_I don't think it's even a proper memory or at least one I remember consciously._

_It was the day my mother left._

_I must have been only under two years old at the time. I wasn't sure of what was happening. She went out sometimes while Baa-chan and I waved at her from the window. But today they were arguing while I played on the floor._

"_This is ridiculous!" Tsunade fumed. "Of all the stupid ideas you've ever had..."_

_My mother was putting on her shoes, doing a very good job of ignoring her. There was a bag by the door. She really meant to leave._

_Tsunade got mad that Mom wasn't listening to her. She tried using the trump card: me._

_My mother was silent. For a while she just played with her scarf, twisting it in her hands. "He won't remember me," she said finally._

"_You really mean to leave him on his own?" shrieked Tsunade._

"_You'll be here."_

"_That's not the same!"_

"_Tsunade," Mom said quietly. "I'm going." She came and sat cross-legged in front of me. I think I said something to her and then reached to grab a strand of her bright hair. She quickly picked me up and hugged me briefly. "Bye, Naruto."_

_After that everything moved quickly. She picked up her bag and walked out. Tsunade picked me up but we didn't wave at the window. Instead she sat down in a chair with some sake while I grabbed at her necklace._

"_It's just you and me now, kid." And that's how it was._

_That's why it didn't matter when we were told of my mother's death when I was five. Tsunade didn't seem surprised. She'd told me of my father dying when I was a child. That Mom just wanted to travel for a while to get over her grief. She would have come back but she died in an accident._

_You and I both know that's crap. I knew it was crap when I stood by Tsunade's side at the funeral, fingering the necklace she'd given me. I knew it was crap when Tsunade put all of Mom's things into storage. I knew it was crap when Tsunade moved to take a job at another hospital and left me her flat at the beginning of middle school._

_It was crap because this entire time people thought I was a naïve kid who didn't know._

_I knew._

I woke up briefly in the dead of night in the same room I've had since I was two.

"Damn," I said quietly before going right back to sleep.

xXxSasuNaruxXx

I knew it was early. On the route to school there were just joggers, birds and me. The sun was up but the sky held the same tint of red I'd seen earlier when I'd woken all tangled in my sheets.

I thought I was over having that dream. And the next dream had freaked me out even more. It had been years after all. He wouldn't remember.

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and a flash of red...before I crashed painfully to the ground.

The sky really was red, I discovered as I lay on the pavement, trying to adjust to the fact that I'd just had been a victim of a hit and run. Or was I the culprit?

I got my elbows under me and pushed myself up shakily. From experience I knew I was going to be sore. "Hey, I'm sorry. Are you al..." and the words died in my throat.

The guy opposite me was inspecting his bruised hands – unlike me he'd had more sense and managed to save himself from being unable to lean back for about a week.

He was also glaring at me like he wanted to kill me.

And I was fairly sure he could if he wanted to. Everything about him screamed 'scary' from his malevolent eyes to the tattoo on his forehead.

"I'm sorry, I was kind of out of it," I tried. I couldn't shake the déjà vu that was hanging around me. He brushed some pavement dirt from his flame red hair and began picking up his stuff.

_Fine, ignore me,_ I though irritably. I'd apologised, hadn't I? I grabbed at my bag and was struggling to get up when he offered me a hand. "Err...thanks," I muttered as he pulled me up.

For a weird, _weird_ moment we stared at each other.

"You're Naruto Uzumaki, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah," I said.

"Are you always walking into people?" he asked. I remembered where I'd met this kid before: I'd seen him everyday in my English class. He was signed up on the Loserville train like I'd been before Sasuke. And now I knew where the déjà vu was coming from – I'd walked into him in the corridor the day I'd talked to Sakura.

"Oh crap. I forgot. Sorry for that too."

He coked his head to one side, as if he was sizing me up. "You're dating Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you?" he said, completely ignoring me.

I groaned inwardly. Except I'm me so I actually groaned.

"What? Sore topic?"

"Well, I...no! Sort of. When did it become your business anyway?" I asked furiously.

He narrowed his eyes. "You made out in English once."

"We did not! It was for Romeo and Juliet..."

"Like you didn't enjoy it?" I was so mad by now that my mouth just hung open.

"Why are you going out with him anyway?"

"I just remembered that I don't _have_ to talk to you," I snarled.

"It's either you don't want to date him but have to or..." he said. "Or something really complicated."

I stared at him in complete shock. "You mean you've thought about this?"

He snorted. "Like I'm interested in your weird love life. But seriously _Uchiha_? You used to hate each other."

"If you're not interested why the hell are you asking me about it?" He jumped back a little. "Because it's weird, that's all. Twilight zone weird."

I spun around. "Then go alert area 51 or something."

"Naruto...do you want to go somewhere?"

xXxSasuNaruxXx

"Sorry if I made you mad."

"That's...Hn. Seriously, why do you care anyway?"

"I said I don't!" Gaara turned to face me but looked at the floor when I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever, dude," I swung back and forth a little. "Why the hell are you so defensive?"

"I thought we weren't discussing our personal lives?" I snorted.

Both of us shut up for a while.

"I used to come to this playground," I said suddenly. "It was where I..." I shut my mouth suddenly, remembering this was practically a total stranger.

Gaara gave me an odd look but didn't push me further. It was...remembering _that_ and then coming here of all places.

"Do you like him?" Gaara said suddenly. "Sasuke."

"What is your obsession?" I asked (while being very immature and twisting the chains around while I was still sitting on the swing.) "Do you like Sasuke or something?" His face twisted into an expression of pure revulsion.

"Ok, I guess not." There was another awkward silence while my swing climbed higher and higher and I twisted the chains.

"Do you?" I pushed off with one foot and spun around until the swing snapped back to its original un-tangled state.

"This doesn't leave this swing set but...yeah. I really do," I admitted.

"Why? He's an asshole."

"What?" The spite in his voice startled me. "No, he's not!"

"My mistake." His eyes glinted. "He's a cold, heartless, pretty boy asshole!"

"You have no idea what he's like!" I tried defending my boyfriend.

"And you do? You're in love with the guy but how much do you know about him _really_? He's probably just using you to keep those mad fangirls away!"

Panic, present. Shock, blindingly obvious. And lastly WHAT?!

"How do you...I mean...how?" My mouth was dry and I'm fairly sure I croaked that last sentence.

"I was just guessing," he snarled. "But you've just made it obvious it's true."

"Oh God!" I wailed, slumping forward and hiding my face in my hands. "This is not good!"

"I'm not going to tell anyone so shut up."

"You're not?" I asked in confusion. "Why?"

He sneered. "Like you said, it's not my business."

"Well, no..." I said slowly. "And no offence, up until today I seriously thought you were creepy."

"Thanks," he said dryly. I grinned suddenly.

"Yeah but now you know one of my secrets so that makes us friends, right?" I offered him my right hand which he just...stared at.

"As long as you keep it. And promise not to use weird gang torture methods on me." I'm sure that tattoo meant he was in a gang or something.

Then the weirdest thing happened. Ok, it wasn't a proper smile. But his mouth twitched slightly. "Alright." He took my hand and we shook on it.

"If you want to make it official we could use blood or something..." he suggested.

"No way."

"Sure." There was another silence but in no way awkward or the scary pause you get before the murderer leaps out from behind the shower curtain.

Ok, so there were no axe-wielding murderers but Gaara suddenly pushed me backwards so hard that (for the second time that day) I landed flat on my back.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" I grunted while struggling to untangle my legs from the swing's chains. There was no answer because a second later Gaara landed beside me.

"Is there any reason why you want to lie on the grass?" I made a big mistake and turned my face towards his...and got the shock of my life when I realised how close he was.

"Uh...Gaara!" I squeaked. Our noses were touching and I could feel his breath on my cheek. If it had been Sasuke we would have been kissing already. But now I was really uncomfortable by somebody else pushing my personal space like that.

"What?" Gaara asked quietly.

A shadow fell across my face. "Naruto?"

Oh _shiiit_. Shit, shit, shit!

"Sasuke?" I asked stupidly. Why the hell was Sasuke here? And why were he and Gaara glaring daggers at each other? I let myself get pulled up and caught by him when I stupidly tripped over my own feet. "Why are you here?"

"I was going to school," Sasuke said, his dark eyes still fixed on Gaara. "What were you doing?"

Before I could answer Gaara spoke. "We were just talking. That's all." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Didn't look like it."

"Why?" Gaara smirked. "Don't trust your boyfriend?" Sasuke's jaw clenched.

"No," he said darkly. "I don't trust _you._" Gaara stood up silently and began brushing down his clothes.

"Tough. We're friends now, get used to it."

Sasuke very obviously took hold of my hand. This time Gaara's jaw tightened. "And he's _my_ boyfriend. So keep your hands to yourself."

"I wasn't touching him," Gaara said calmly. He walked past us to his bag and swung it over his shoulder. "See you, Naruto." I didn't see him leave because I was watching Sasuke's blank yet deadly face.

"Sasuke? Hey! What's wrong?" He studied my face intently for a moment.

"You really don't know, do you?" he asked disgustedly. He let go of my hand like it was on fire.

"Know _what_? Sasuke!" What had I done wrong? Oh God, Sasuke didn't think I _liked_ Gaara, did he?

"Sasuke?" I called softly. "You know I'm not interested in Gaara, right?" There was a pause and Sasuke took my hand again and entwined our fingers. "Yeah. I know." I grinned, glad he wasn't mad at me, when he abruptly pulled me towards the gate. I bent down and grabbed my bag with my free hand.

"Hey," I said when we were out. "Were you jealous or something?"

"No."

"Aw! Not even a little bit?" He stopped at the pedestrian crossing.

"Jealous over what?" he asked cruelly.

"Jesus, what a lousy boyfriend you are! Maybe I should go catch up with Gaara..." I teased, testing to see if I got a reaction. I got one. A fairly pleasant one too.

"Let me get this straight," he said, kind of breathlessly from our kiss. "There's no way in hell I'm letting that psychopath have you."

"Done," I said happily. "As long as you admit you _were_ jealous."

"No way. Hell can freeze over before that happens."

"Fine," I said grouchily because I could see the school building in front of us. Sasuke would clam up the closer we got.

"It's sort of peculiar but...did you used to go to that playground when you were younger?" Sasuke asked in a tense tone of voice that made me look up sharply.

"Yeah. All the time," I said softly. A group of girls looked over at us and pointed at our linked hands. Me-and-Sasuke had become old news but PDA was not the norm.

Sasuke's eyes flickered briefly up and to the left and I was sure I felt his grip tighten.

"Naruto! Over here!" Sitting on a wall in front of the school Kiba waved at me and Shikamaru seemed to be sleeping upright.

Sasuke let go of my hand. "Go to your friends."

"Hey. Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair. "I have to go talk to Neji. Student council stuff."

"Ok..." My voice trailed off as Sasuke walked away from me without a goodbye, a kiss, acknowledgment...

I climbed up the wall and sat next to the comatose Shikamaru.

"Whoa, check out you and Loverboy!" whistled Kiba with a smirk.

"Not in the mood, Kiba," I muttered.

"What? He dump you or something?" I didn't answer and Kiba's grin faded. "Shit, did he? If he has I'll go and throttle the bastard..."

"He hasn't." Kiba looked confused and Shikamaru woke up.

"What then?"

I watched Sasuke's black head disappear out of sight. "Just..." I considered an answer to give to my friends that summed up my morning.

"...bad dreams."


	14. Flipside

Sorry, sorry. Been a while. Got stuck. I don't think I write as Sasuke very well.

Anyway, feel free to hate me at the end of this chapter.

And you will...

Ch. 14 Flipside

_When did the world lose its colour?_

_When did I give up on the world?_

_When did everything start to seem so pointless?_

_Where did my reason go?_

I had a reason. I know I had a reason. 8 years ago my reason was there, all of it, complete and unshattered like it is now. I have photos to prove it.

Naruto is right (God, that sounds wrong.) My bedroom is dull. Was the ceiling always this _white_?

I sighed. God, this is boring. But I can hear laughter and voices downstairs and I know I'm going to be trapped up here for another hour at least. This happens every so often that Itachi has a night off and brings some random girl back.

Whatever. As long as he isn't communicating in any way with Naruto I don't care. And then I fall back onto my bed with a sigh. Is he still mad at me? Because I brushed him off too easily the other day? Is that what this is about?

_Stupid. Immature. Idiot. Brat. Loser. Dead last._

I scowled as I heard a woman's high laughter. God. Shouldn't there be something about him bringing random skanks into our house? I heard the voices getting louder and the sound of high heels on the wooden floor of our hallway. Thank God, they were finally leaving.

Itachi called up "Sasuke! We're leaving!" I grunted in reply.

The Random Skank (immature but it made me feel better) said "Is your brother always this antisocial?" (Bitch. I hate you.)

I knew Itachi was shrugging his shoulders, unsure of how to reply. "He's normally politer. He just had a little...tiff with his boyfriend, that's all."

Ha. Silence. Bitch was surprised by my having a boyfriend.

And 'tiff?' No one says tiff anymore. It's not a freaking 'tiff!'

Jackass. Burn in hell, the both of you.

The front door clanged shut and there were the sounds of keys: Itachi was locking me in. Look, I have keys, I can get out you know.

But you know very well there's nowhere for me to be.

Jackass!

I roll off my bed. I can go downstairs and get some food now but there's something I want to do first.

I reach under my mattress for a file I hid under there months ago. I had some things I wanted to keep hidden from...everyone. As I opened it I could see newspaper clippings, photos and other things I wanted to keep safe. My fingers brushed against a photograph that was too painful for me to look at in my search.

And after searching for about two minutes I got frustrated. Upturned the file and watched the pieces of paper fan out all over the floor.

It wasn't there. My anchor. My precious memory.

Gone.

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

4 years ago

"_Neji, get out of my face," I said none too politely. Neji's mouth twitched._

_He'd been playing with his new toy all day and it was really irritating having flashes in your face every five minutes._

_Neji ignored me and studied the pictures he'd already taken. "I'm documenting it."_

"_Documenting what?" I muttered, tossing books carelessly into my locker._

"_That it's the end of your first term at Konoha middle school. You can barely be counted as new kids anymore." He shook his head. "From here on out you're going to get more cynical and stubborn." I glared at him to prevent him giving the punch line. _

"_By the way, your classes are being mixed up after the holidays."_

"_What?" This was new information to me._

"_They always do that after the first term. Right now your classes are just random but they're going to sort them by level of skill. I shouldn't worry. You'll be in with all the smart people," Neji said with a smirk._

"_Shut up," I said, slamming my locker shut and shoving books into my bag._

_He snapped another photo just to annoy me._

_I turned abruptly (Neji could be really annoying when he wanted to) and almost ran into a blonde boy standing behind me._

"_Hey!" he cried as the precariously balanced stack of books in his arms tumbled to the floor. We both bent to the floor to pick them up and when we stood up we both stared, sizing each other up._

"_Dude? My books?" I silently handed over his geography and math textbooks while Neji watched the scene, looking amused._

"_I'm Neji. This is Sasuke. I'll apologise for him. He doesn't seem capable of it."_

_The boy snorted. "Figures. Jackass." I unfroze._

"_Excuse me, idiot, did you say something?" I asked._

"_Yup. Jackass."_

"_It was an accident!" I spat._

_His blue eyes narrowed. "So you should have apologised. That's what regular people do. Do stuck up princesses need their lackeys to do it for them?"_

"_I'm not a lackey."_

"_Neji, shut it! What do you mean by 'princess?' I'm not a girl!" People were beginning to stare as we stood nose to nose, glares set on kill._

"_Could have fooled me!"_

_Neji tried to step between. "Sasuke, get a grip." The boy took a step back, smirking. "Yeah, Sasuke, get a grip!" he mimicked. I scowled. Neji's eyes flicked between us as we both backed off a little. "You would be?" he said, raising an eyebrow._

"_Naruto Uzumaki," but it wasn't directed at Neji. His bright blue eyes met mine steadily. "Remember it."_

"_An annoying brat like you won't be easy to forget. But don't worry I'll try," I replied coolly. There was suddenly a flash._

"_Neji!" He shrugged and then held his hand out to Naruto._

"_I think I'm going to like you," he said very seriously to Naruto._

_Right, that was it. But as I turned away he called my name, in a casual manner that irritated me totally._

_I looked over my shoulder. He was standing in the same place, impish grin in place. "Nice to meet you too...Sasuke."_

"_Huh," I looked away again. "Don't act like we're friends...dead last."_

_I knew the smile had vanished. _

"_Don't worry," he said, tone cold. "In the future I _won't_."_

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

It was midnight when I finally heard the door open and giggles and whispers.

I hadn't been able to sleep because the more I started thinking about me and Naruto in the past the angrier I got.

And I missed him. Oh hell, did I miss him.

And then I cursed him for making me miss him.

It was about that time when my mind was running in circles when I heard the unmistakable noise of my brother and the Skank.

No way. I detangled myself from my twisted bed sheets and stormed out of my room and hung over the balcony. My brother deleeched the Skank to look up at me.

"Hell. No," I snarled. The skank looked up and looked at me with an expression that suggested I was something stuck to her shoe.

"What's your problem?" she asked, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"You. In my house. Get out."

Her eyes widened and then she scowled. "Itachi!" she whined. "Tell him to go back to bed already. He can't boss me about like that."

Itachi gave me a blank look while Skank glowered in my direction and we both waited for Itachi's decision. I shook my head firmly. "I can't sleep as it is. There's no way in hell I'm listening to you and the skank do the nasty."

Skank looked outraged. "Itachi!" He sighed.

"I'll take you home." She shrieked.

"You have got to be kidding me! He can't tell you what to do!"

"He can," Itachi said calmly. "If he doesn't want you in this house I can't force him to be uncomfortable about it. Besides," his eyes flicked up. "I think he has enough problems as it is."

"Too right!" She spat. "You just ruined my evening, brat!" I cheerfully waved at her (I'm not nice to people I don't like) as she stormed out of the door followed by Itachi who didn't even look at me as he left.

I was in the kitchen when he got back, staring moodily into my cold cup of tea.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?"

I shrugged, too tired to reject him or fight with him like I normally would.

"You should go to bed."

"Itachi?" He paused in the doorway.

"Thanks," I muttered. He raised an eyebrow. This is the most civil I've been to him in...8 years.

"It's fine. I didn't like her that much anyway."

"So why do you keep bringing these random girls back here anyway?" I asked angrily.

"You don't think I get lonely?" I looked down at my cup. I'd never thought of him being lonely before. Uchihas aren't meant to get lonely.

Or have boyfriends.

Or miss being with said boyfriends...

"I didn't think about that..." He flicked the kettle on again.

"I'll join you if you don't mind," he said, taking a seat next to me.

The kettle whistled away and I could see Itachi trying to cling to this tiny connection that we had. "It's not like you and Naruto, you know. I know you have a problem right now but I'm sure you'll sort it out..."

The cup slid from my fingers and tipped over. We both stared at the spreading puddle before Itachi went to get a cloth out of the sink.

"Itachi," I whispered. He finished cleaning up the split tea and threw the cloth back.

"Can I talk to you?" There was a silence before he nodded and sat next to me again.

"I wasn't being honest before..."

The kettle clicked.

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

8 years ago

_This couldn't be happening._

_I was walking along a pavement. Don't ask me where I was or where I was going. I was just walking constantly thinking that there was no way in hell this was real. My mom would come into my room any minute now to wake me up and she'd be there, smiling and happy with the ever present scent of vanilla._

_Right now wasn't real. The last week hadn't been real._

_Man, do I suck at lying to myself. I'd laid awake all of last night pinching myself. It wasn't a dream. And now my arm was turning purple._

_It was his fault, I decided, viciously kicking at a pebble. Why didn't he let me go back? If there hadn't been time for anyone else to arrive to save them why couldn't we have done something?_

_I stopped suddenly. I'd just looked up and seen where I was. Behind me was the pavement I'd just been walking on but in front of me was a children's park, gaudy and brightly coloured. It was empty except for this one kid rocking back and forth on the swings._

_Fascinated, I moved closer._

_His hair was a wild cloud of blonde and his eyes were so blue and so bright but so sad. He was scruffily dressed in a white t-shirt with a spiral on it and shorts. His knees were covered in mud. The most interesting part was the bright whisker marks on his face._

_He was swinging back and forth but not very high off the ground. His trainers were getting more and more scuffed by the minute._

_Without thinking I walked through the gate and sat on the swing next to him._

_There was a moment where we stared at each other. _

"_Hi," he said finally._

"_Hi."_

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

"I was never really mad at you." Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"Could have fooled me."

"I was mad at...everyone. You were just...an easy target," I muttered, cupping my fresh mug of tea.

"I figured. Which is why I never hated you for it. I was mad too...but I needed to take care of you."

I thumped my head against the table. "We're so screwed up," I sighed. Itachi smothered a laugh.

"Sasuke, you have school tomorrow. Go to bed."

"I don't want to go to school," I said, my face still pressed against wood.

"You have to," his tone softened. "Sasuke, you and Naruto will work it out."

"What makes you so sure?" I asked testily, finally lifting my head up.

"Because I'm your older brother and I know things. Go."

"I'm not sure I want to know what kind of things..." I grouched as I walked out of the room.

Even up the stairs I could hear Itachi laughing. Jackass. (Look, 8 years of resentment don't just vanish, ok?)

I fell into bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. And even lonelier than before. Reliving my day with Itachi had been painful...even more painful than talking about our parent's deaths. It was fresh and hurt _differently_. I couldn't understand why.

_It's not like I ever liked you, neh, Naruto? It was convenient and you took me by surprise when you asked and after that I got too comfortable with you and..._ I yawned. _And now I'm lonely without you bugging me._

_And we've always been together. Even from all those years ago we were drawn together. I don't know why I let you in when I felt like pushing everyone out and then a few years later I just pushed away like everyone else. _

_But each time we've kissed. _That made me smile, thinking of it. When we were eight and you had to leave but after you had taken a few steps away you dashed back and kissed me on the mouth as comfortable with it as if I were someone...important.

_Oh God, I miss you. Why?_

_When did I start feeling like this?_

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

Yesterday

"_Sasuke!" It was the end of school. Way past it actually. I'd just come out of a student council meeting. Neji raised an eyebrow at me and silently left. Naruto ran to catch up with me._

"_Where have you been all day?" he asked._

"_You've been looking for me?" _

_He flushed. "No...kind of. Can I talk to you?"_

"_Sure."_

"_In private," he blurted, looking at the few stray people in the hallway with us. I felt my heart jump into my throat with nerves. What was it? Had Iruka found out we were still seeing each other? Or was it the opposite and he was willing to let it go? Or something I hadn't even thought about..._

_God, suspense sucks. I followed Naruto to a deserted hallway. It was only when I saw the rows of gleaming red metal that I realised where we were._

_This was the same passage way where I'd stuck my bizarre deal with Naruto. At the beginning. Not our _beginning_. But the beginning of what we could call a relationship. Where we kissed._

_Did he intend to bring me here?_

_No. Because this whole situation feels wrong. Naruto was _nervous.

_He's swallowing...hard. He's fidgeting and avoiding looking at me, trying to gather courage to spit out what he wants to say._

"_Naruto? Is something wrong?"_

"_No. It's just...I...um..." Then he looks up at me with oddly blank blue eyes and says so clearly and bluntly that I couldn't have misheard it..._

"_Sasuke, I think we should break up."_

X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X

I would like to remind you I'm only 17 and I don't want to die.


	15. Please read the desperate plea from Sen

Hello, readers of Falling. Now if you've read my profile you'll know that I intended for Falling to be rewritten because I was much younger when I wrote it and my writing has improved. Though I tend to cringe when I think of how my writing was back then Falling is my baby – my very first full length SasuNaru - and I would like to see it improved and finished.

I've been trying for several months to rewrite it and I came to a conclusion: I don't want it to be just another high school story with as little plot as Twilight. Really, _really_ don't want that to happen. So I tried long and hard to think of a villain or something that would fit but nothing seemed to work (it seems all my ideas for scandals and such recently are being spent on The Agony and The Ecstasy.)

I asked friends and family, other members of and still nothing. So I decided to come to you, the fans who have supported me regardless. I would really love to begin the rewrite this summer when I have loads of time and can devote it all to fics. One tiny idea is usually enough to spawn twists and turns in my head (Tangled up in you and Agony for example have complex plots created out of one spark) but sadly on Falling I'm stuck.

I'm also very, very sorry for the long wait. Falling has been silent for...wow, over a year and you probably all want to drown me in a tub of sardines. I'm quite happy to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness from you lovely people.

But anyway, to finish my ramblings, if you have any ideas please tell me, I'd love to hear them.

Much love and cookies, Sen. Xxxxx

I'm gonna go get a cup of tea. XD


End file.
